Successful mesothelioma claim: Judgment given at Liverpool County Court

Company responsible for deaths of both parents failed to get out of paying fair compensation

Storey v James Marmon & Son Limited

On Wednesday, 26th November 2008, His Honour Judge Platts sitting in Liverpool County Court, heard arguments about the appropriate amount of compensation to be paid to the daughter of a lady who died from the asbestos related cancer, mesothelioma.

Annie Storey contracted mesothelioma from contact with her late husband who worked for James Marmon & Son.  The company from Liverpool carried out installation, maintenance and repair work on boilers, including on ships and in large factories.  The late Mr Storey worked for the company as a lagger/labourer.  His duties involved stripping off and renewing asbestos lagging.  He mixed up asbestos fibre which he put onto pipes and boilers by hand.  Mr Storey was exposed to heavy amounts of asbestos fibre which inadvertently, he brought home on his work clothes and body.  He was not given any training or advice about the dangers of asbestos and washing facilities weren’t available, so he brought asbestos dust into his home on his filthy work clothes.

Annie was a conscientious housewife and regularly cleaned her husband’s dusty work clothes by hand.  When he got home, she embraced her husband. She sat in chairs where he had sat in his dirty clothing. 

In spite of her age (she was 78 when she died) she was very active and enjoyed a good quality of life before she developed mesothelioma.  She went out socially with friends on a regular basis and enjoyed going to a casino. In July 2005, she developed a persistent cough.  However, her condition worsened and she developed pain and increasing breathlessness.  She got fluid on her lungs which was drained, but the relief from her symptoms was only temporary.  She underwent various medical investigations and had biopsies taken.  By March 2006 she was very poorly and required oxygen.  She deteriorated further and died on the 22nd April 2006.  Care was provided to Annie during her illness by her daughter, Elaine and other family and friends.  To compound the tragic situation, Elaine’s father, Gordon, who worked for Marmons had died from asbestos disease as a result of his work with them.

At a hearing in Liverpool County Court on the 26th November 2008, the Company’s barrister argued that the amount of compensation should be less than the usual bracket of compensation paid in mesothelioma claims.  One of  the reasons the barrister said was that Mrs Storey’s pain and suffering was quite short, and less than 3 months.  However, the Judge accepted our client’s medical evidence from Dr Rudd, that initial symptoms had been present since about July 2005, but that Mrs Storey, because of her stoic and uncomplaining nature, had not informed her family in the early stages or repeatedly gone back to her GP.

The Judge refused to accept the barrister’s suggestion that he should follow 2 other cases where judges had awarded only £20,000 and £35,000 for pain and suffering for mesothelioma nor on a sentence in a legal guide, the Judicial Studies Board Guidelines, that suggested that compensation of as little as £25,000 may be appropriate in cases where the symptoms are relatively short.  The Judge accepted our arguments that these awards were wholly inappropriate and commented that:

“…it would be an affront to anybody’s sense of justice if somebody who went through the suffering that Mrs Storey went through came away with damages as low as £25,000.”

The judge accepted our arguments that it is more appropriate to look at the approach of a specialist asbestos Judge, Senior Master Whitaker, who sits in London and runs the mesothelioma fast track system.

The Judge awarded compensation of £47,500 as compensation for pain, suffering and loss of amenity. 

He also awarded £3,500 for the care and assistance provided to Mrs Storey, using an hourly rate of £7.50.  This was in excess of lower hourly rates typically advanced by insurers of £5 or £6.

Our client, Elaine Storey said on behalf of her family:               

“…We have lost two parents due to the negligence of this company and have to live with this loss for the rest of our lives.  We as a family know that our mother suffered considerably longer than that suggested by the defendant as we watched her health deteriorate over a period of time. Although we have received a settlement in this case, this does not in any way compensate for our loss.”

Kevin Johnson, solicitor from John Pickering and Partners LLP who acted for Elaine Storey commented:

“It was right that the judge refused to accept the defendant’s arguments about the level of compensation to be awarded for Mrs Storey’s pain and suffering.  Mesothelioma is a terrible and extremely painful illness.  The level of compensation that the defendant put forward would totally demean mesothelioma sufferers and their loved ones for all that they have to endure.”

Notes
Mesothelioma is an asbestos-related cancer that affects the lining around the lungs (the pleura) and certain other organs such as the peritoneum. There is no cure for mesothelioma. Radical surgery is available to a limited number of eligible patients. The condition can be difficult to diagnose and patients generally survive less than 18 months from diagnosis. The only known cause of mesothelioma is asbestos. Mesothelioma often occurs 30 to 40 years after asbestos exposure, with no upper time limit. Although mesothelioma is an occupational disease, victims include teachers, nurses, doctors, shop workers and family members of people who have worked with asbestos.

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 asbestos disease sufferers and a prompt for important reform.

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

Further information:
Kevin Johnson, Solicitor
John Pickering and Partners LLP
19 Castle Street
Liverpool
L2 4SX

Telephone: 0151 227 1214
E-mail: kj@johnpickering.co.uk
Website: www.johnpickering.co.uk
FREEPHONE: 0800 854201
www.mesotheliomaadvice.co.uk

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