Six-figure settlement for family of Kyle Stewart Limited employee

Mr T instructed our Partner, Rachel James, shortly after the Covid pandemic. He was diagnosed with mesothelioma after being exposed to asbestos dust whilst working as a carpenter.

The companies that Mr T worked for at the start of his career had dissolved and were uninsured because Employers’ Liability insurance did not become compulsory until 1972. It was not therefore possible to direct a claim against those companies or their insurers. Furthermore, some of the asbestos exposure that Mr T suffered in the early years of his career was not high enough to prove that his employers should have been aware of the dangers and acted accordingly, in which case they too could not be pursued.

Mr T worked for Kyle Stewart Limited from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s as a carpenter and foreman. He worked on a lot of renovation projects and at many Marks & Spencer stores around London as part of a maintenance contract.

Mr T also suffered with dementia and so, when providing his witness evidence, he had a very clear recollection of his early work but struggled to remember the locations of the Marks & Spencer stores that he worked at later on in his career.

Mr T recalled working around asbestos-lagged pipework in ceiling voids with asbestos dust and debris falling down on him as he moved ceiling tiles to open up the ceiling voids.
Mr T did similar work to his son-in-law and so they often had conversations about jobs they had worked on. His son-in-law was able to provide witness evidence about the discussions they had and how Mr T had come into contact with asbestos dust.

After Mr T passed away, Mrs T remembered that Mr T had worked in the Marks & Spencer Marble Arch Store on Oxford Street and had accessed the ceiling voids there. She remembered Mr T complaining about the traffic on Oxford Street as he drove to and from the store. Mrs T provided a witness statement, which was used in support of an application for non-party disclosure from Marks & Spencer in relation to the Marble Arch store.

The disclosure showed that, when asbestos surveys were carried out at the Marble Arch store, asbestos dust and debris was noted on the upper side of ceiling tiles having come away from asbestos lagging within the ceiling voids and that there was a risk that asbestos dust and debris would rain down on anyone who moved them. This was completely in keeping with Mr T’s and his son-in-law’s witness evidence.

Following disclosure, the claim was settled by the insurers for Kyle Stewart Limited who agreed to pay Mrs T a six-figure sum to include compensation for Mr T’s pain and suffering, as well as her dependency on his income.