£210,000 for a former Royal Mail employee with sarcomatoid mesothelioma.

James’s mesothelioma was discovered after he was given two courses of antibiotics for a chest infection, with no improvement. Due to his additional symptoms of breathlessness, he underwent a chest CT scan in August 2022 which revealed a pleural effusion. Following from this, fluid was drained from his lungs, and he was referred for a biopsy. The biopsy sadly confirmed a diagnosis of mesothelioma, and he was informed of this in October 2022.

Following his diagnosis, James was treated with dual immunotherapy with Nivolumab and Ipilimumab on the NHS. A CT scan in September 2023 showed that he has had a good response to the treatment. James did have to take a break from the immunotherapy treatment due to renal impairment, but this improved with steroids, and he has been able to resume his immunotherapy.

James was exposed to asbestos while working in the sorting office in Harlow, Essex where there were works to remove asbestos lagging from pipes. There was not adequate protection to prevent the asbestos dust entering the sorting room, meaning that the dust circulated throughout the area that James was working in.

James and his colleagues were also not warned of the dangers of asbestos and, as a result, James entered the area where asbestos was being removed to have a look at what was going on, exposing him to even more asbestos.

He also described further exposure when working as a postman at West Kensington, where he would deliver wages to building sites and enter the dusty environments where they were working with asbestos.

A Letter of Claim was sent to Royal Mail Group Limited, and we took time prepare a detailed witness statement dealing with the circumstances of James’ exposure. This was a complex low exposure case, so we instructed Counsel to advise on liability and a medical expert who confirmed that James’s mesothelioma was caused by asbestos exposure.

Annabelle Neilson in our expert Mesothelioma claims team put pressure on the Defendant to admit liability and successfully obtained an admission of liability in June 2023, including an interim payment of £50,000. After rejecting two Part 36 offers to settle from the defendant which were too low, Annabelle was successful in securing a settlement of £210,000 with provision for future private medical treatment.