Landmark ruling changes outlook for asbestos cases

Citation

(2010), "Landmark ruling changes outlook for asbestos cases", Structural Survey, Vol. 28 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/ss.2010.11028eab.009

Landmark ruling changes outlook for asbestos cases

Article Type: Newsbriefs From: Structural Survey, Volume 28, Issue 5

Keywords: Asbestos, Health, Litigation

Thousands of victims of asbestos could claim compensation after a landmark ruling changed the way cases are judged. Widow Della Sabin was awarded £100,000 at the Royal Courts of Justice in London – in the case Sabin v British Railway Board (Residuary) Ltd – in December after the death of her husband Leslie to asbestosis three years previously. Leslie had worked as a lorry driver in the 1950s, delivering asbestos from Wigan rail depot to Turner & Newall’s Hindley Green plant. He was exposed to asbestos from the hessian sacks in which the material was stored. Leslie was diagnosed with asbestosis in 2004 and his widow took up his fight for justice after Leslie lost his battle with the condition in 2006. Barrister Simon Kilvington, of 18 St John Street Chambers, acted in the case and said this will set a precedent for future asbestos-related claims. “It was an important case as defendants previously relied on the Llandough Hospital research, stating 20 million fibres of asbestos had to be found in lung tissue to conclude whether the material had caused the disease. This figure was set following research in industries where exposure was high. An American expert, Dr Roggli, gave evidence that much lower levels of asbestos in the lungs are sufficient to attribute the disease to the exposure. Judge Justice Swift agreed with the evidence asbestos fibres could have cleared from the body in the years following Leslie’s exposure and said the Cardiff laboratory benchmark was ‘probably significantly too high’. This effectively lowered the bar for a claimant with a case of asbestosis and also lung cancer cases where the level of asbestos fibres in the lungs is a factor”. The British Railways Board accepted a breach of duty in exposing Leslie to asbestos.