FOREMAN JOINER’S WIDOW RECEIVES £112,500 FOR HIS EARLY DEATH DUE TO KILLER DISEASE

Tony, a self employed joiner and musician, died at the age of 63, 3 months after being diagnosed with the fatal asbestos related cancer, mesothelioma.

Tony spent the vast majority of his working life as a joiner in the Cheshire area working for local builders, in a self-employed capacity and for building companies. Unfortunately, Mrs A instructed us after Tony had passed away and therefore we didn’t have the opportunity to obtain a statement from him dealing with his employment and exposure history. However, with great assistance from Mrs A, using Tony’s Inland Revenue Employment History and benefit applications that were completed shortly after his diagnosis, we were able to piece together where Tony had worked and come across asbestos.

It emerged that Tony had been exposed with two local building firms but it proved difficult to trace the firm’s employer’s liability insurers (who would pay out compensation to Mrs A) as the firms went out of business many years ago.

The only other exposure was with a company called Spooners (Hull) Ltd between 1969 and 1980 when Tony worked for them as a joiner and foreman joiner on contracts in the Cheshire area. He spent most of his time as a foreman joiner on the sites where asbestos was used. Spooners went bankrupt in 1980. Investigations commenced into tracing their employer’s liability insurers. Enquiries were made with other firms of solicitors, support groups and searches were carried out on the Association of British Insurers’ (ABI) website but to no avail. It seemed as though it was going to be impossible to trace the insurers on record during Tony’s employment.

Throughout the case Mrs A demonstrated sheer courage and was determined to seek justice for Tony’s death due to this killer disease. She was not prepared to give up on the case. Mrs A as well as assisting with our enquiries, carried out an independent search on the ABI’s website for Spooners insurance history and got a response. 

Finally, after an uphill struggle, we were able to proceed with the case.

Tony had kept his old address books and diaries from his foreman days with Spooners. Luckily, these made clear reference to asbestos products being used on various sites. We were also able to trace some of his former colleagues who were able to shed light on his asbestos exposure. We quickly gathered evidence in support of his asbestos exposure, a medical report in support of his case and investigated the value of the claim on behalf of Tony’s estate and for Mrs A.

Tony was a very fit man before he developed symptoms of the mesothelioma. Our medical expert stated that he would have been able to work as long as he wanted. We claimed he would have continued to work as a self employed joiner until he was at least 75 years old.  Tragically, Tony lost nearly 18 years of his life due to this disease.

We were able to settle the case within 11 weeks of disclosing our medical evidence and evidence in support of the value of the claim. We also obtained an interim payment of £50,000 on account of our Client’s compensation whilst we negotiated the final settlement with the Spooner’s insurers.

The Claimant’s claim settled for just over £124,000 gross. Mrs A had to give credit for benefits of £5,195.58 paid to Tony before his death and a payment of £6,663 made to her following his death under the 1979 Act Government Scheme. She had to give credit for these sums because the law doesn’t allow you to receive double compensation. In the end, she received £112,500 in compensation for Tony’s death and her own loss.

We estimate the following breakdown:

Mrs A’s thoughts on the case:

My determination was driven by the belief that Spooners must have been insured and that somewhere there had to be documentation to prove who they were. We just needed to be persistent.

People talk of the compensation culture we live in today, where you can be compensated even if it’s only your feelings that have been hurt but this has not been my experience. I have lost my partner and best friend, the person who last year would have retired and with whom I had looked forward to spending my retirement. We had plans of spending much of our time in our touring caravan last year but instead, I was handing over our caravan to its new owner on what would have been his 65th birthday.

People are dying now and will continue to die because the full facts of the dangers of asbestos were kept quiet for years because of the impact it would have on the use of asbestos as a cheap commodity in the building trade.

Mesothelioma is a horrendous disease. It is a ticking time bomb and everyone who worked with asbestos or brought asbestos home to their loved ones are at risk.

About John Pickering and Partners LLP- Specialist mesothelioma compensation solicitors

John Pickering and Partners LLP is a niche legal practice that has represented Claimants in the leading asbestos "test cases" in the last ten years. The firm represented Sylvia Barker in Barker v Corus (UK) Plc, a case that highlighted the legal tactics of employers and insurers trying to cut back their compensation liabilities to mesothelioma sufferers, and which prompted the amendment of the Compensation Act 2006 to ensure full compensation for mesothelioma claims. The firm represented two of the three Claimants in the Fairchild appeal, in which the insurance industry tried unsuccessfully to block compensation altogether for mesothelioma sufferers unable to identify which of two or more sources of asbestos exposure had caused their illness.

The firm represented Alice Jefferson, a mesothelioma sufferer, whose illness and compensation claim against Cape Asbestos were featured in the important documentary "Alice: A Fight For Life."   Shown by Yorkshire Television in July 1982, the programme was an important catalyst for legal change and public awareness of the plight of the victims of asbestos.

If you need advice about an asbestos related illness, contact us now for information about making a claim for compensation

Fozia Hussain
20 Clare Road
Halifax,  HX1 2HX

Tele: 01422 345535
Fax: 01422 438500
Email: fh@johnpickering.co.uk