November 3rd, 2009
A welder from Liverpool has won £140,000 in compensation after he contracted terminal cancer from working with asbestos.
Ronnie Cadwallader, 76, was diagnosed with mesothelioma in November 2007 after spending part of his working life stripping asbestos lagging off pipes, turbines and boilers.
His wife Ann told the Livepool Daily Post: "Ronnie was so fit and healthy, always running and never smoked or drank. All of a sudden he was really poorly with no energy.
"It was horrific."
His two-year struggle for compensation was made more complex by the fact that the two firms he had carried out such work for were no longer in business.
But Mr Cadwallader has finally been offered compensation by insurance firm Zurich, which was the insurer for one of his former employers, Carolina Engineering.
The Health and Safety Executive has recently launched a campaign to raise awareness about the dangers of working with asbestos aimed at tradesman and maintenance workers.
Tags: Asbestos Compensation, Boilers, Cadwallader, Health And Safety, Health And Safety Executive, Insurance, Insurance Firm, Insurer, Liverpool, Maintenance Workers, Mesothelioma, Pipes, Stripping, Struggle, Terminal Cancer, Tradesman, Turbines, Wife Ann, Zurich
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September 21st, 2009
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has spoken out in support of a motion that calls on the government to provide compensation for sufferers of pleural plaques.
Trade body the Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians (Ucatt) believes that the government should overturn the Law Lords ruling made in 2007 which states that people suffering from pleural plaques should not receive compensation.
Pleural plaques occur when the lining of the lung swells, mostly due to asbestos exposure. Victims may be at risk of developing more serious asbestos-related diseases like mesothelioma later on in life.
Commenting on the current law, Ucatt president John Thompson said it is unsuitable and that he hopes Labour will change its stance, adding: "In Barrow, South Shields, Plymouth and other asbestos-blighted towns, it is a crucial test of the morality of this government."
After the TUC gave support to the motion, Gordon Brown has said that a statement on pleural plaques is to be made after parliament returns from its summer break.
Tags: Allied Trades, Asbestos Exposure, Asbestos Related Diseases, Barrow, Bid, Gordon Brown, John Thompson, Labour, Mesothelioma, Morality, Parliament, Pleural Plaques, Plymouth, President John, Quot, Risk, South Shields, Summer Break, Trades Union Congress, Union Congress Tuc
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May 1st, 2009
A woman who campaigned for justice for three years when her husband died from asbestos-related cancer has secured a six-figure compensation payout.
Raymond Keen was diagnosed with mesothelioma in March 2006 when he was 66. He died only weeks later, the Birmingham Mail reports.
Janet Keen, 69, took legal action against Unilock Limited, later known as Transplastix, claiming that it had exposed her husband to the deadly building material when he worked as a builder there.
In a new development, Unilock’s insurers Zurich have agreed to an out-of-court settlement of more than £1 million.
Mrs Keen said she is glad justice has finally been done.
"It was terrible watching Ray change from being such a healthy person … to a shadow of his former self in the space of just a few months," she commented.
Exposure to asbestos has been recognised as a health hazard since the early 1900s, although many workers were exposed to the substance decades after this.
Family members and those living with asbestos workers can also develop cancer from inhaling particles left on clothes.
If a person can prove they were exposed to asbestos as a result of negligence, they may be able to make a claim for compensation as a result.
Tags: 1 Million, Asbestos Cancer, Asbestos Workers, Building Material, Clothes, Court Settlement, Decades, Early 1900s, Family Members, Health Hazard, Healthy Person, Keen, Mail, Mesothelioma, Negligence, Particles, Woman, Zurich
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March 23rd, 2009
Compensation of £52,000 has been awarded to a man who developed the lung disease mesothelioma after being exposed to asbestos.
According to the BBC, the compensation was secured under new legislation which enables people to claim if they were exposed to the deadly building material while self-employed or from another person’s clothes.
A minimum of £8,197 is payable under the new Child Maintenance and Other Payments Act, brought into force last year, but the unnamed victim in this case secured almost the maximum of £52,772.
Statistics from Cancer Research show that five times more men than women develop asbestos-related diseases, potentially due to them having had more jobs in the building trade during the 20th century.
Meanwhile, new research published in the British Journal of Cancer has stated that as many as one in 17 British carpenters born in the 1940s could die from mesothelioma after their exposure to asbestos.
Tags: 1940s, 20th Century, Asbestos Cancer, Asbestos Diseases, Asbestos Related Diseases, Bbc, British Journal Of Cancer, Building Material, Cancer Research, Cancer Victim, Carpenters, Child Maintenance, Clothes, Jobs, Lung Disease, Mesothelioma, New Legislation, Statistics, Victim Compensation
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February 12th, 2009
The widow of a man who died after being exposed to asbestos has secured a payout of £700,000 after it was ruled that her late husband’s employer was responsible.
Susan Smith launched legal action against the Co-Op in Leicester, where Michael Victor Smith had worked as a foreman, the Burton Mail reports.
She claimed that Mr Smith’s work on ceiling tiles had led to him breathing in asbestos dust, eventually culminating in his death from mesothelioma in 2004.
Judge Oliver-Jones QC ruled that the employer was negligent in that it did not protect Mr Smith from the dangers of exposure and agreed to the compensation.
In related news, Gordon Brown announced this week that there will be an announcement "very soon" regarding compensation and pleural plaques.
Pleural plaques are damage to the inside of the lung and they can lead to mesothelioma. It has been argued that sufferers should have better access to compensation.
Tags: Asbestos Dust, Burton Mail, Ceiling Tiles, Gordon Brown, Lead, Led, Leicester, Lung Cancer, Lung Cancer Victim, Mail Reports, Mesothelioma, Mr Smith, Oliver Jones, Pleural Plaques, Related News, Susan Smith, Victor Smith
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