Detailed history key to mesothelioma claim success

Thoroughness in taking a full statement from the daughter of a lady who had died of mesothelioma played the key role in this case. A well-known trade union firm had been instructed during the lady’s lifetime but did not ask her for details of anything other than her own working history. When they were unable to trace any of the mills she had worked at – where there might have been exposure to asbestos – they dropped the case.

The woman’s daughter contacted us after her mother had died and we established that the mother had been very close to her cousin. They had often spent time at each other’s houses and shared childcare and domestic chores. Her cousin’s husband had worked for a division of Cape Asbestos. He had come home with asbestos on his overalls and in his hair, and it was established that this had exposed both our client’s mother and her cousin to asbestos when they laundered his overalls.

Helen Childs, who able to settle the case even though it was hotly contested by the defendants, comments: “This case has extended the boundaries of who is and who isn’t a possible victim of exposure to asbestos from an asbestos worker’s overalls. It has also illustrated yet again how vital it is to take a full statement from your client. I was very pleased to secure compensation for my client, particularly after another firm had dropped the case. She contacted me very late in the day not long before the expiry of the time limit for bringing a claim when many lawyers would probably rejected this case. Just goes to show other potential claimants that it is always worth getting specialist advice, even if your case seems hopeless at first glance.”