Changing a career path or leaping into a new industry can provide exciting challenges and experiences for young workers. Jenny sought a change early in her working career, but didn’t expect that doing so would come back to haunt her more than 50 years later. Jenny’s exposure to asbestos in the mid 1960’s was consequential to her future health and lead her to seek assistance from Melloney and the industrial disease team to claim compensation for her asbestos related condition. Circumstances of exposure Jenny’s working career commenced in the early 1960s after leaving school at 15. After working in clerical roles in London she sought something different, and in 1963 obtained employment as a lab technician for an Essex based electronics company. She worked for this company until 1967 and was predominately based in the main factory. Whilst working in the factory Jenny regularly operated a machine that wrapped electrical cables, commonly for cars, with asbestos thread. She had to feed a long length of cable, a centimetre or two thick, into the machine before the machine would wrap the cable with asbestos thread. The spool the thread came on needed to be regularly replaced and by the time it required replacement was dusty and dirty. Jenny was required to not only handle the dust covered spool but also handle and fit the new spool of asbestos thread into the machine. Whilst carrying out her work as a lab technician Jenny worked in a Nissen Hut. The hut’s walls and ceilings were made of asbestos. There were work benches along the two sides of the walls. Due to the hut’s low ceilings Jenny could not stand properly. A small lapse in concentration or attempt to stand properly while in the hut often lead her to bang into and rub against the asbestos walls and ceiling. Onset of symptoms In September 2023 Jenny began noticing ongoing breathlessness and a persistent dry cough. Her neighbour encouraged her to see a doctor and a chest x-ray completed on the recommendation of the doctor showed approximately 1 litre of fluid on her lungs. The fluid was promptly drained and further CT scans and investigations were scheduled. A biopsy completed in February 2024 confirmed a diagnosis of sarcomatoid mesothelioma. Jenny underwent a further 2-litre fluid drain and commenced immunotherapy shortly after receiving her diagnosis. The claims process In mid to late March 2024 Jenny contacted Boyes Turner’s industrial disease team. A telephone call and home visit were arranged and Melloney began conducting research to locate a paymaster for a potential compensation claim. Initial unsuccessful efforts to locate an insurer did not deter Melloney’s team, and eventually insurers for the company were located. A letter of claim was sent to the insurers, with an initial response from the insurer being received some weeks later. Further information regarding Jenny’s circumstances of exposure was requested and swiftly provided by Melloney in an effort to expediate a liability response. An admission of liability was provided by the company’s insurers in early August 2024. With liability admitted, Melloney gathered all relevant medical information and documentation and briefed a medical expert to provide a report. Upon disclosing the expert’s report, the insurers made an interim payment of £50,000 to Jenny. With an interim payment secured Melloney prepared a Schedule of Loss to quantify Jenny’s claim and commenced negotiations with the company’s insurers regarding settlement. After some back and forth Melloney was able to secure a settlement of Jenny’s claim for more than six figures, plus an agreement that the insurer would fund any future private treatment recommended by Jenny’s oncologist. Jenny and her family are delighted with the outcome and are reassured to know that Jenny has peace of mind regarding future private treatment if and when the time comes. *Names have been anonymised For more information about how the mesothelioma and asbestos disease claims team can help you or your loved ones after a diagnosis of an asbestos related disease, please contact the team by email on asbestos@boyesturner.com or by telephone on 0118 952 7199.
