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Italian Widow Receives Compensation For Mesothelioma
Mr and Mrs R moved to England from Italy in January 1966 for a better life. They settled in Cambridgeshire and Mr R, along with his good friend Mr F, found work in the Atlas Stone Company in Cambridgeshire. The company manufactured asbestos cement roofing tiles. Mr R worked in the milling department. He had to rip open hessian sacks of asbestos using a knife. He then tipped the asbestos into a milling machine to begin the production process. The asbestos fibres blew into his face as he poured the asbestos into the machine. Mr R was a very hard worker, working 8 to 12 hours shifts. He also worked every weekend that he could for extra money. Mr R was exposed to deadly asbestos dust every day. The air was thick with dust and it got all over his overalls and hair. He did not wear a mask and was not warned of the dangers to his health. Mrs R noticed that her husband was not himself in early 2004. He was breathless and had a persistent cough. On the 4th October 2005 Mr and Mrs R were told that he was suffering from mesothelioma and it was a terminal condition caused by his exposure to asbestos dust. Mr R was an in-patient for nearly a month during which time his wife stayed at the hospital and rarely left his side. In Southern Italy there is a great deal of emphasis placed on the patient’s family to care for them. It is not like England where there are hospital visiting hours and NHS doctors and nurses provide a great deal of care and support. Mrs R told us that they did everything together and she did not want her husband to be left on his own in hospital. When Mr R was discharged Mrs R continued to be his main carer. She used some of their savings to pay for pain relieving injections and taxis to and from the hospital for her husband’s chemotherapy. Mrs R found it very difficult to watch her husband suffer as his pain was not well controlled. She told us that it was as if her husband was deteriorating in front of her eyes. She had to help him get washed and dressed. She also made special meals that she thought he would enjoy as he was losing a great deal of weight. As Mr R’s condition deteriorated Mrs R found it difficult to cope and she was forced to borrow money to pay two women who lived in the local village to help her. In August 2006 Mr R was admitted to hospital again as he had developed a problem with his leg. Mrs R stayed by his side. She said that she knew she was losing her husband of nearly 50 years. Mrs R approached us, through her nephew who lives in England, to investigate a compensation claim. Mrs R did not speak a great deal of English so the claim was assisted by her nephew and translators. We entered into negotiations and were able to agree a six figure sum which will ensure that Mrs R is financially secure in the future. We entered into a ‘no win no fee’ agreement so that our costs were dealt with by Mr R’s former employers. This agreement meant that Mrs R did not have to pay us for our services and there were no deductions from her compensation. One of the challenges we faced with this case was obtaining the Grant of Probate. This is a legal document which confirmed that Mrs R was entitled to her husband’s property. We needed this document in order to proceed with the claim for compensation. We regularly obtain Grants of Probate on behalf of our clients. In the majority of cases this is a quick and straightforward process. In Mrs R’s case it was more complicated as Italian Notaries were unwilling to deal with documents relating to English Law so Mrs R had to attend a British embassy in order to swear an oath in front of a British diplomat. We also had to locate Mr R’s original Italian Will from the central registry in Italy. We liaised with the British diplomat and Mrs R’s nephew to try and make this process as easy as possible for Mrs R. This was a particularly sad case. Mrs R told us that she found her husband’s illness exhausting physically and mentally. Their children had died in tragic circumstances when they were young and Mr and Mrs R had rarely spent a day apart. Mrs R’s GP described them as living almost solely for each other. Mr F, who moved to England with Mr R and who also worked for The Atlas Stone Company, also developed an asbestos related condition. We were successful in obtaining compensation on his behalf in a separate case. Many former employers of Atlas Stone Company were exposed to vast quantities of asbestos dust. We recommend that any former employers who have been diagnosed with an asbestos related condition contact us as quickly as possible. Carolann Hepworth, partner in our Manchester office, who dealt with this claim, said “This was a challenging and unusual case. As Mr R was exposed to asbestos dust in England his widow pursued the claim in this country despite not speaking the language. Further information: Carolann Hepworth Tele: 0161 834 1251 Notes John Pickering and Partners LLP- Specialist mesothelioma compensation solicitors We are a specialist personal injury law firm. We have been handling claims for industrial disease for over 30 years. Most of our work involves acting for asbestos disease victims. We only act for the sufferers of asbestos diseases and never act for the organisations that caused the asbestos exposure or their insurers. We have an ethical approach and pledge to donate 10% of our net profits every year to good causes that help asbestos sufferers. Click here to find out about our donations to good causes. We have also been involved in most of the landmark judgments that shape this area of law. Find out more about us or find out about our reported cases. We are on the panels of several asbestos support groups and are ranked highly by legal guides. Click here to find out more about what others have said about us. 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 mesothelioma and other asbestos disease sufferers and a prompt for important legal reform. Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that affects the lining of certain bodily organs. It most commonly affects the lining of the lungs (the pleura) but it can affect other areas including organs in the abdominal cavity (the peritoneum). According to the British Lung Foundation, more than 2,000 people are diagnosed with mesothelioma every year in the UK and there is one mesothelioma death every five hours. The number of deaths from mesothelioma increased from 153 in 1968 to 1,969 in 2004 and is expected to peak at 2,450 between 2011 and 2015. The British Lung Foundation, supported by John Pickering and Partners LLP, launched the first Action Mesothelioma Day on 27th February 2006, to raise awareness about mesothelioma, to improve the treatment and care of mesothelioma patients, and to lobby for better funding for research into mesothelioma and for the protection and education of people working with asbestos. If you need advice about an asbestos related illness, contact us now for information about making a claim for compensation.
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