Total Damages: £80,000
PSLA: £55,000 (£58,783.51 RPI)
Trial/settlement date: 26/5/2006
Type of Award: Out of Court Settlement
Court: Out of Court Settlement
Age at trial: 85
Sex: Male

The claimant, an 85-year-old man, received £80,000 for the lung cancer that he developed following exposure to asbestos dust at work from the mid 1930s. The settlement was reached notwithstanding the absence of evidence of other asbestos-related diseases such as asbestosis or pleural thickening.

Claimant: Male: 83 years old at date of diagnosis; 85 years old at date of settlement.

Employers' Liability: Between 1935 and 1982, the claimant (C) was employed by the defendant (D) as a boilermaker. During the course of his employment, C was exposed to asbestos dust.

In 2003, C was diagnosed with lung cancer. However, C did not have asbestosis or pleural thickening.

C sustained injury and brought an action against D alleging that it was negligent in its health and safety duties towards its employees. C maintained that in order to establish that the lung cancer had been caused by asbestos exposure, it was not necessary to show that he had been suffering from other asbestos-related illnesses: it was sufficient to demonstrate a cumulative exposure to asbestos dust or fibres by reference to the Helsinki Criteria.

Liability disputed. D conceded that C had been exposed to asbestos and that it had been caused by their negligence or breach of duty. However, causation was in issue as D denied that the lung cancer had been caused by exposure to asbestos and did not accept the Helsinki Criteria.

Injuries: C suffered from lung cancer.

Effects: C had been relatively active for his age but noticed increasing shortness of breath from about 2001, pain under his arm from March 2003 and increasing fatigue. He required increasingly more care and assistance at home from members of his family up to the date of settlement. It was anticipated that professional nursing care would be required in the future because his wife and family would be unable to continue to look after him in the terminal stages of his illness.

Prognosis: C's life expectancy was reduced in any event because he also suffered from prostate cancer.

Out of Court Settlement: £80,000 total damages.

Background to damages: The case was settled on a global basis with no particular breakdown of damages. However, the claimant's solicitors estimated the following breakdown:

Breakdown of General Damages: Pain, suffering and loss of amenity: £55,000.

Breakdown of Special Damages: Past and future care: £8,200; Miscellaneous expenses including travel expenses: £2,391; Loss of pensions: £14,409.

Frank Burton QC and Harry Steinberg instructed by Irwin Mitchell for the claimant. Capital Law for the defendant.

LTLPI 17/10/2006 (Unreported elsewhere)

This Quantum Report was provided courtesy of Caroline Pinfold of Irwin Mitchell, solicitor for the claimant.

Document No. AM0201015