I was instructed by the son of the late Mr E, a former Barracks Fabric Printing Company Limited employee, who died of lung cancer. I had previously brought a successful claim on behalf of another former employee of Barracks Fabric, a textile mill, for compensation for an asbestos-related disease. Mr E had a long period of service at the mill, working there from 1952 until 1997. His family told me that he was a complete “ workaholic”. In addition to his role as a screen printer, he also worked on the boilers, on the roofs and he stripped old asbestos lagging off the pipes. He worked at weekends, in the evenings and during the holidays. The mill contained huge Lancashire boilers which were encased in brick underground but the top portion of the boilers were covered in asbestos. Some years after his retirement, Mr E fell ill and was diagnosed with lung cancer. The defendants tried to argue that, firstly he would not have had sufficient exposure to asbestos to contract asbestos-related lung disease but expert engineer evidence proved this was not the case. Secondly, the defendants argued that the Mr E’s lung cancer was attributable to his smoking. Mr E had smoked for 45 years. However expert medical evidence confirmed that ,in light of the late Mr E’s extensive exposure to asbestos, it was more likely that his lung cancer was caused by exposure to asbestos and not his smoking history. Mr E’s claim settled in the sum of £50,000.
