£32,500 compensation for South African pleural thickening victim

Mr Mant was exposed to asbestos during the 1950s and 1960s whilst working at Bulford Camp, Salisbury Plain. He was employed by the War Department and subsequently the Ministry for Public Building and Works.

His job involved mixing and applying asbestos lagging to the piping which was situated at Bulford Camp.

He developed bilateral pleural thickening in 2006. His illness had been caused by his asbestos exposure some 40 years’ previously.

Although he now lives in South Africa, he contacted John Pickering and Partners LLP and we investigated his claim. We were able to liaise with his doctors in South Africa and obtain evidence from him to prove his case.

Initially the Ministry of Defence and the Department for Communities and Local Government denied having employed him but Mr Mant had kept his old work references which proved that he had worked for their predecessors. Mr Mant’s claim settled for £32,500.00.

He kept 100% of his compensation which, was transferred into his South African bank account. The Defendants paid Mr Mant’s legal costs.

Mr Mant made these comments about his claim:

“I thought that it might be difficult to pursue a UK claim from South Africa. However, John Pickering and Partners managed all the paperwork and gathered all their evidence by phone, email and letter and it was nice not to have to travel to the UK. I was very happy with the way in which my case was handled, with the result and with the compensation I received. Thank you.”

Mr Mant on his farm in South Africa.

Ryan O’Hara
John Pickering and Partners LLP
20 Clare Road
Halifax  HX1 2HX
Tele: 01422 345535
Fax: 01422 438500
Email: ro@johnpickering.co.uk

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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