Knowsley woman wins High Court battle for mesothelioma compensation
A woman from Liverpool has been awarded nearly a quarter of a million pounds compensation after she developed the asbestos related cancer Mesothelioma. The woman, Mrs W, had been exposed to brown asbestos in the ceiling tiles of the secondary school she attended in the 1970’s. As a result of this exposure as a child, she went on to develop the incurable asbestos-related condition.
Mesothelioma is a devastating illness; the cancer affects the lining of the lungs and is notably hard to treat with surgery or chemotherapy when compared with other cancers. By the time of diagnosis, most mesothelioma sufferers’ cancers are incurable and survival rates are lower than for many other types of cancer. According to figures from the Cancer Research UK website, only 4 in 10 of those diagnosed with mesothelioma live 12 months beyond their diagnosis and only about 1 in 10 sufferers will still be alive 3 years later.
Diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2007
In Mrs W’s case, she had been diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2007. However it wasn’t until she read a newspaper article mentioning that high levels of asbestos had been found in her school that she put two and two together. Mrs W decided to take Knowsley Borough Council, the local authority in that part of Liverpool, to court to recover compensation for the disastrous impact that mesothelioma was having on her health and her life.
The local authority argued that Mrs W would need to prove that she had regularly been in contact with asbestos fibres in the school for her claim to succeed. However, Mrs W’s legal team contended that as asbestos had been found in the school’s ceiling tiles in 2002, Mrs W had probably been exposed to dust from these tiles several times during her seven years at the school. Mrs W recalled times when workmen had removed the ceiling tiles to work on wiring, when tiles in the toilets had been damaged by other pupils and also times when some pupils removed ceiling tiles in order to hide other pupils’ bags.
The court case was decided in favour of Mrs W, as the judge found that not only was it more likely than not that she had been exposed to brown asbestos dust during her time at secondary school, but also that there was also no need for Mrs W to have been exposed for any length of time. At the court hearing, Mrs W was awarded £240,000 compensation.
Claiming asbestos disease compensation with Camps
This case shows that asbestos exposure doesn’t just occur in industrial environments such as factories or building sites. If a building has been constructed in a way that uses asbestos in any quantity, then there is always a risk that people living, working, or in this case going to school in that building will come into contact with asbestos fibres. Camps Solicitors have been following Mrs W’s case as her claim could raise awareness of the risks of asbestos exposure even in the most unlikely of settings.
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Aren’t schools suppose to be inspected every year? If they aren’t they should be. I would probably contact a Mesothelioma asbestos attorney just to be cautious. I’d see what they have to say about the situation.
In truth a good number of householders do not realize that they have Asbestos in their property and I observed as well that it is pretty inexpensive to examine for Asbestos. Its quite crucial for their well being.