Mr B contacted us in late 2017, he had been diagnosed with pleural plaques and bronchitis in 2005 and had noticed his condition had deteriorated. He had scans and full lung function tests and was found to now have pleural thickening.
Exposure to asbestos at family business
After leaving school at the age of 16, Mr B went to work for his father’s business. For the first 15 years he worked as a pipe lagger and asbestos stripper. He used all forms of asbestos, blue, brown and white. He would mix the asbestos with water for form a paste-like mixture which he then smothered onto pipework and boilers for insulation. As you can imagine, this was very dusty work and he would be engulfed in clouds of asbestos dust as he made the asbestos paste.
Mr B also did asbestos stripping, removing old asbestos lagging from pipework and boilers before he then relagged them. The old lagging would be brittle and damages and he would use tools and his bare hands to rip the lagging off. Again, this was an extremely dusty job and as he worked, asbestos dust and fibres were released into the air and he could not help but inhale them.
Dissolved defendant company
We were able to trace the defendant company and found that it was in liquidation but had previously been dissolved and restored to the register. Insurance was traced for approximately half of Mr B’s period of employment. This meant that the claim would be valued but the defendant would only pay half of the value as this is what their insurance covered.
Provisional damages settlement
The claim was settled on a provisional basis. This means that although only half of the value of the damages could be recovered due to the lack of insurance, should Mr B’s condition deteriorate significantly or should he develop a further asbestos condition such as asbestosis, asbestos-related lung cancer or mesothelioma, he could return to claim again.
If you require assistance in pursuing an asbestos compensation claim for mesothelioma or other asbestos disease then please contact us today on our freephone number 0800 038 6767. Alternatively, head over to the ‘Contact Us’ page, complete the form and we will be in touch.