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Dianne Willmore dies the day after winning her asbestos appealPRESS RELEASE- 15 October 2009 It is with great sorrow that we tell you that Dianne Willmore died this morning. Yesterday the Court of Appeal upheld Liverpool High Court’s verdict that she was negligently exposed to asbestos when she was a child at school in Knowsley. Dianne was only 49.
Dianne was exposed to asbestos fibres from the age of 11 at Bowring Comprehensive in Knowsley in the 1970’s. The court acknowledged that the council and school authorities knew about the dangers of asbestos and should have taken measures to prevent damage to asbestos, contamination of the school and exposure of the occupants. The court heard of a number of occasions when the exposures happened: Asbestos insulation ceiling tiles had been taken down and stacked in a busy corridor whilst electricians worked on the cables in the ceiling void. Bullies took children’s satchels and pencil boxes and hid them above the ceiling tiles. Vandalism had occurred in the girls toilets where asbestos ceiling tiles were stacked in the girls loos. The original case in July found Knowsley Council had a duty of care for the staff and children, and they failed in that duty. However Knowsley Council appealed against the ruling. Their appeal was dismissed yesterday by the Appeal Court Judges who upheld the original ruling. Dianne was diagnosed more than two years ago and because her condition was seriously deteriorating the court dealt with her case speedily. Yesterday Lord Justice Ward told the court that they would not delay their ruling because they were aware that Dianne had not long to live. The Court showed great compassion. Yesterday Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council’s lawyers indicated that they wished to appeal to the House of Lords. Immediately after the Judges’ decision yesterday Dianne’s solicitor Ruth Davies phoned to tell her the good news. She was so pleased that she knew that her beloved family would be looked after. Dianne died with that knowledge. Dianne was awarded £240,000 in damages for her negligent exposure, but she wasn’t able to spend it because in the event of the appeal being successful the money would have to be paid back. Every year, there are more than 2000 cases of mesothelioma in the UK, the exposure in the UK being comparatively high because we imported so much brown asbestos. The vast majority of those mesotheliomas are caused by exposure to asbestos dust in the workplace. However there are increasing numbers of people like Dianne who develop mesothelioma from slight exposure. Her case succeeded because there was evidence of exposure. Click here for Liverpool Echo's article Click here for Mirror's article Further information: Ruth Davies Tele: 01422 345535
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 edcation of people working with asbestos. |
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