Daughter recovers compensation after father’s death from lung cancer

Jonathan Herbert, specialist industrial disease lawyer acting for the claimant successfully obtained an out of court settlement on behalf of her father’s estate to compensate him for his pain and suffering and financial losses.  Mr G developed lung cancer as a result of his former employers negligently exposing him to asbestos dust.  Mr G’s deterioration with lung cancer had been particularly harrowing.  He had suffered a number of falls and seemingly suffered a significant neck injury in one of them that would have been amenable to treatment were it not for the fact that he had a terminal lung cancer.

We were approached by Mr G in the last few days of his life.  He had been in denial about his diagnosis and we were only able to take limited instructions as to his occupational exposure to asbestos.  Mr G died of lung cancer at the age of 65.  He had smoked up to 40 cigarettes a day albeit having starting smoking relatively later than most, but our medical expert reported that his occupational asbestos exposure was far more significant and that his asbestos exposure increased his lung cancer risk five times.

When we received Mr G’s full employment history, there were twenty former employers listed with significant interchanging of jobs over the years.  Certain employers mentioned by Mr G were not included on that list.  A forensic analysis of Mr G’s employment history and research into former employers was undertaken.  This was necessary because in lung cancer cases, ‘guilty’ employers are responsible for their contribution only.  The majority of defendants were ruled out because they and/or their employer’s liability insurers could not be traced.

We were able to locate insurers of four former employers and calculated that they were jointly responsible for 40% of Mr G’s occupational asbestos exposure.

Miss S’s claim as the executor of her father’s estate was settled without the need to issue court proceedings.

Jonathan Herbert specialises in industrial disease cases.  If you would like to ask Jonathan a question about a potential case, or if you have a general query about any personal injury, contact him at Thomson Snell & Passmore solicitors on 01892 701226 in confidence.