• John’s Story

    John from Sittingbourne, near Medway, Kent was in his 60s  when he was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer at Medway Hospital. It was suspected to be caused by his exposure to white & brown asbestos lagging, mainly from his work as a boiler house operative and maintenance fitter at Kemsley Paper Mill in Medway. Sadly, he died from his lung cancer only two months after he instructed Brachers to claim compensation for an asbestos-related disease.

    Our Approach

    This was not a straightforward asbestos compensation claim as John had been a heavy smoker and did not have asbestosis. This meant a history of substantial asbestos exposure was required to show that his asbestos exposure more than doubled the risk of lung cancer from smoking alone.

    Unfortunately, John died of his illness before he could be medically examined and (despite our advice) no post-mortem was carried out to confirm the cause of his lung cancer was asbestos related. Additionally, there were no supporting witnesses of his exposure and he had been exposed to asbestos for several employers, some of whom had since gone out of business.

    We researched and identified the relevant defendants where exposure to asbestos had occurred and sent full letters of claim. We applied to the High Court to force the Inland Revenue to disclose records of our client’s employment history to prove he had worked for the defendants against whom we were claiming compensation.

    Following the client’s death we obtained instructions from his son Nick to continue the lung cancer compensation claim, assisting him to obtain letters of administration. Initially, the defendants indicated they were likely to defend the claim, because it was unproven that the lung cancer was caused by asbestos exposure.

    We instructed a leading chest physician who provided a supporting report confirming the client’s lung cancer and death had probably been caused by asbestos exposure.

    The Outcome

    After much negotiation, we settled the claim for over £50,000, keeping the reduction for contributory negligence for heavy smoking to 20%, lower than recent case law reduction of 30%.

    Client quote

    Nick was very happy with the service received and commented, “ I would like to thank you for all your hard work that you have done for my family.”

    The Lawyers

    This asbestos lung cancer compensation claim was dealt with by Jeremy Horton, a Solicitor and Partner in the firm, specialising in mesothelioma, lung cancer and other asbestos compensation claims in Kent, Medway, Essex & beyond. Jeremy is passionate about helping asbestos disease victims and their families achieve fair compensation as quickly as possible. He is the only APIL Accredited Occupational and Asbestos Disease Specialist solicitor in Kent, Medway, Essex, Surrey or Sussex. Jeremy can be contacted on 01622 680415 or at JeremyHorton@brachers.co.uk. Emma Mower of our private client team dealt with the estate issues.

    This content is correct at time of publication

    Can we help?

    Take a look at our Industrial Disease Claims page for useful information, resources, guidance, details of our team and how we may be able to help you

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