Witness evidence vital in proving electricians’ claim following mesothelioma diagnosis

Laura acted for *Cameron who was sadly diagnosed with sarcomatoid mesothelioma in July 2021. Cameron contacted Laura in July 2021 with instructions to investigate a claim during his working life as an electrician. He sadly died less than 2 months later. The claim was continued by his son, *Jon, one of the Co-Executors of Jon’s Will and the claim was brought on behalf of the Estate and also on behalf of his wife *Tara as the deceased’s dependant. Tara relied on the income of her husband Cameron. She was a carer for her mother at the time of the diagnosis and being a very close family was supported by her children financially as well as emotionally.

Exposure

Cameron started working as an electrical apprentice in the late 1960s for a company called Cedar Electrical Limited where he worked for about 10 years in total. He drilled into asbestos ceiling tiles in order to install lighting and he also cut asbestos tiles using a handsaw. He also worked in boiler houses, wiring up pumps, working alongside asbestos lagged pipework, removing asbestos lagging with a hammer himself and sweeping up the lagging afterwards. Cameron then went on to work as an electrician for Capri Mechanical Services for about 40 years. His work for Capri took him into three boiler houses removing asbestos lagging by hand to get to the pipework. He also stripped out old electrical services from under floors where asbestos was present. Cameron left Capri to form his own business with his sons and was still working full time at the time of his diagnosis.

Cameron was very unwell at the time he contacted us and so Laura took immediate steps to notify insurers and the necessary paperwork was being prepared so that court proceedings could be issued as a matter of urgency. Very sadly Colin passed at that time and the case naturally paused whilst the family obtained a Grant of Probate.

Witness evidence

As the Defendants did not admit liability on the basis of Cameron’s lifetime statement, Laura undertook further investigations relating to the asbestos exposure with Capri Mechanical Services Limited for whom Cameron worked for between 1985 and 2019. Cameron had a number of colleagues who Laura got in contact with. They heavily assisted the claim as they were able to give details about the asbestos exposure at specific jobs which proved very useful.

Cameron himself had also been asked to write a statement for one of his colleagues who had passed away due to asbestos related disease in 2006 but it was unknown whether a legal claim had been successful as Cameron was unable to recall which law firm had contacted him and he had not been provided with a copy of his statement or an update. Laura contacted other firms and even applied for the death certificate of Cameron’s colleague to establish whether there had been an Inquest. Laura was able to obtain an unsigned copy of the witness statement Cameron wrote in 2006 and then requested the inquest papers for the previous claim under Rule 13 (1) of the Coroner’s (Inquests) Rules 2013. This rule states that where an interested person asks for disclosure of a document held by the coroner, the coroner must provide that document or a copy of that document, or make the document available for inspection by that person as soon as is reasonably practicable. The coroner’s file contained exposure evidence which was useful to this claim.