Mesothelioma Claim

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Mesothelioma and the uses of asbestos

Asbestos was often used for roofing and insulation purposes, most particularly in the construction and shipping industries.

Workers (or their families) in the following occupations in the UK have successfully claimed compensation for contracting mesothelioma:

• Laggers
• Joiners
• Boiler attendants
• Painters
• Roofers
• Car mechanics
• Maintenance workers
• Fire protection workers
• Shipyard workers
• Plumbers
• Asbestos factory workers
• Locomotive Engineers
• Power station workers
• Vicinity workers
• Cohabiting relatives of asbestos workers

Types of asbestos

The 3 principal forms of asbestos are:

• Chrysotile (white asbestos)
• Amosite (brown asbestos)
• Crocidolite (blue asbestos)

Characteristics of mesothelioma

In the UK, about 80-90% of mesotheliomas can be traced to blue or brown asbestos. There is little evidence to indicate that the condition is caused by white asbestos.

Mesothelioma affects the covering of the lung, and less commonly, the lining of the abdomen. The disease can take 20-50 years or even longer to develop.

Mesotheliomas are generally very resistant to any form of therapy and carry a grave prognosis. The disease can be caused by relatively low exposures.

Legal considerations

So as to advance a mesothelioma compensation claim, we will need to provide a positive answer to the following questions:

• Did somebody else owe a Duty of Care to the injured person?
• Was the injury foreseeable?
• Was there a breach of duty?
• Did the exposure actually cause the mesothelioma?

Duty of Care

In a mesothelioma compensation claim, our first step is to establish that a "duty of care" (or legal responsibility) was owed to the injured person. If there was an employer/employee relationship, then the duty of care is self-evident.

As regards contractors, then generally the "occupiers" of the site (ie those in charge of the works) were likely to have owed a duty of care. This duty will cover the state of the premises, which in turn will include the production of asbestos dust and its extraction.

Foreseeability

So as to establish foreseeability in a mesothelioma claim, we must obtain evidence of the following:

• Description of the circumstances of the exposure
• The type of asbestos used. Different types of asbestos present different levels of danger, for example, crocidolite (blue asbestos) can be roughly 500 times more dangerous than chrysotile (white asbestos)
• The length of exposure
• The level of exposure over the period in question

Breach of duty

Our next step is to prove breach of duty. This aspect is rarely a problem in such cases, given the advancement of the public awareness of the risks of asbestos dust over time.

Usually, the breach will be dealt with by factual evidence, such as:

• No warnings about asbestos
• No dust extraction equipment was provided
• No respirators and/or an insufficient supply of filters

Causation

Provided all of the above has been established, our next question to consider is "causation", in other words, that the mesothelioma was actually caused by exposure in question.

To establish causation, it is necessary first to have a diagnosis of the injured person's condition and secondly a medical link to the exposure.

As a rule, the treating physician will have given most claimants a diagnosis before they seek legal advice.

We have previously advised a number of different victims of asbestos exposure, including:

• A carpenter exposed while working at a new television centre in Birmingham
• A worker at an asbestos factory in East London
• A number of former dock workers

mesothelioma claim