Personal injury claims and case reports
Alan Care has recovered £9 million+ in damages/compensation [as at May 2011] for clients since joining Thomson Snell & Passmore solicitors in October 2002.
Asbestos mesothelioma claims
2012 High Court, QBD, Mesothelioma Fast Track claim - Chatham Dockyard
Case report: RAS v MoD.
HMS Modeste and Nereide. January 1944
RAS was employed at Chatham Dockyard and developed mesothelioma. He was exposed to asbestos whilst working as a "rivet boy" from about 1943 to 1947 on HMS Modeste and Nereide and other vessels.
Alan Care of Thomson Snell & Passmore was instructed on 21 November 2011. A letter of claim was written to the MoD. High Court, Queen's Bench Division, Mesothelioma Fast Track proceedings were issued and served by 1 December 2011. A request was made to the Court to expedite as the Claimant, a widower, had a "Lost Years" income claim.
A High Court QBD Case Management Conference [CMC] hearing took place on 20 December 2011. The claimant unusually requested that everything be dealt with at that hearing ie liability, causation and quantum. However the MoD requested more time to find records for RAS employment at the Dockyard. Master McCloud allowed the MoD 28 days to "show cause" why judgment should not be entered and set the19 January 2012 for an assessment of damages hearing (the final hearing).
Further witness evidence was obtained from ex Chatham Dockyard employees. A Claimant Part 36 offer was made. A counter offer from the MoD on 30 December resulted in further negotiations and the claim was settled on the 3 January 2012.
This claim shows again [see previous case B v CEGB settled in 27 days] how the High Court, Mesothelioma Fast Track has been so successful for Claimants whose claims may be resolved very quickly indeed in appropriate circumstances. Counsel for the Claimant were Roger Hiorns and Christopher Goddard of 9 Gough Square chambers. The MoD was represented by DWF and their counsel Judith Ayling of 39 Essex Chas. The claimant's legal costs were met in full by the MoD in addition to the damages. The claim was funded by a Conditional Fee Agreement ["No win no fee"] and ATE [After The Event] insurance.
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Case report: John Willson v SEGB
John and Maureen Willson
John Willson worked as a van driver's mate for SEGB (South Eastern Gas Board) based at their Old Kent Road depot for some months between 1961 - 1963 delivering asbestos materials to sites including asbestos flue pipes that he would carry by placing through his arm. The delivery vehicle would probably have been an open back truck and was swept out after every day's work. John developed mesothelioma and died in January 2005. He had not been exposed to asbestos with any other employer.
Mrs Wilson changed solicitors and Counsel after John had died. Alan Care was asked to review by way of a second opinion.
What was missing was sufficient independent evidence as to work practices at SEGB in the 1960s. It is understood that SEGB have little or nothing by way of disclosure documents from that period. An issue that is still to be fully explored. There is a National Gas Archive and other sources to be found on the internet. In a BBC South East TV News broadcast in November 2006 Alan Care called for witnesses and with the help of the BBC a few SEGB employees were located. Counsel Roger Hiorns of 9, Gough Square was instructed.
Maureen Willson was "delighted" when the claim was settled saying "Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant from the time I walked in the door". However this settlement, as with so many other mesothelioma claims, is tinged with sadness as no amount of money will ever replace John and Maureen's lost years of retirement together because of needless asbestos exposure some 40+ years ago.
BBC South East news report [26 11 2007] :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/6191602.stm
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Case report. Ernest Watson v MoD [2009]
Ernest Watson worked at HM Chatham Dockyard since leaving school at age 15 in 1955 until the Dockyard closed in 1982. He started out in the Rope Maker Department and went on to a welding apprenticeship in 1958.
H M Chatham Dockyard Rope Walk (Photo from internet)
Ernest was exposed to asbestos as a welder aboard ship refits between 1958 and 1969. While welding in the boiler and engine rooms, asbestos laggers were carrying out asbestos lagging nearby. Ernest developed mesothelioma. As a widower his claim was expedited to trial because his claim had a greater settlement value while he was still alive. Proceedings were issued and Summary Judgment entered at a Case Management Conference hearing some two weeks later. Ernest received an interim payment and his claim was settled in full within about 3 weeks thereafter.
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Case report. IC v BBA Aviation PLC [formerly British Belting and Asbestos]
APIL Case notes.
Quantum: asbestos exposure in 1940s; mesothelioma. Settlement in June 2010.
Roger Hiorns of 9 Gough Square, London, instructed by Alan Care of Thomson Snell and Passmore, Tunbridge Wells, for the claimant.Berrymans Lace Mawer, Cardiff, instructed for the defendant.Case report submitted by Alan Care, Thomson Snell and Passmore. The claimant, IC, of East Grinstead was 85 years of age at date of instruction in December 2009 and diagnosed with mesothelioma. Occupational exposure to asbestos was with British Belting and Asbestos from 1941-2 and after his Royal Navy service again from 1946/7. A DWP Pneumoconiosis Etc. (Workers Compensation Scheme) 1979 award was obtained.
This asbestos claim featured interesting and unusual factors:
The claimant’s age. As a widower the claim had to be expedited in the QBD Mesothelioma Fast Track given a ‘lost years’ income claim (not recoverable by the family after his death). Exposure took place only in the 1940s. The claimant commenced work at British Belting and Asbestos Limited, an asbestos production factory at Cleckheaton, Yorkshire at the age of 16 as an apprentice fitter. He received on-the-job training, carrying out repairs and maintenance to machinery in every department including the carding, pressing, spinning and weaving departments. In particular he worked on carding machines on a number of occasions, replacing rollers and doffer cylinders. During the course of his work on these machines he was exposed to large quantities of asbestos dust which he inhaled; “I had to get into the guts of the machines to mend them”. The claimant was aged 16 and 17 when he undertook this work. At the time of the claimant’s exposure to asbestos, the defendant knew or ought to have known that the inhalation of asbestos dust gave rise to a foreseeable risk of injury to the claimant, particularly as he was aged 16 when his employment began.
Photo internet: British Belting & Asbestos, circa 1920s.
Therefore breaches of statutory duty were pleaded – Asbestos Industry Regulations 1931/Factories Act 1937 and in negligence. In particular the defendant employed the claimant as a young person stripping or grinding the cylinders, including the doffer cylinders, or other parts of a carding machine, negligently and contrary to Regulation 12 of The Asbestos Industry Regulations 1931.
The raw asbestos was delivered to the factory from Rhodesia. The asbestos was processed into asbestos-based products including woven cloth, clutch and brake linings for cars and aircraft, asbestos pads for ball and socket joints used in tanks, asbestos braided packings for valves and glands on steam engines, and clutch and brake linings containing asbestos in resin.
Some of the factory staff wore masks but only a minority. “I remember the men working with asbestos in the crushing and centrifuge areas wearing masks… the staff including the office workers walked through the factory and processes without masks… I wish to be fair to the company as they were a good employer. The company seemed to try to keep the dust down by means of ventilation equipment but could not cope with all of the dust”. By contrast a claim has also recently been settled by Cape [Hebden Bridge factory] for a female wages clerk whose exposure to asbestos 1960-1965 was when visiting various departments in the asbestos factory.
The claimant went on to become a chartered civil and mechanical engineer with Shell and retired in 1985.
Liability for 1950s exposure to asbestos is now firmly established for substantial occupational exposure to asbestos “… in 1951, the difficulties related to and the threats posed by asbestos were sufficiently well-known, and sufficiently uncertain in their extent and effect, for employers to be under a duty to reduce exposure to the greatest extent possible…” Jeromson v Shell Tankers UK and Cherry Tree Machine Co. Ltd [2001].
The issue of liability for 1940s exposure to asbestos and mesothelioma remains somewhat controversial (see Journal of Personal Injury Law JPIL September 2005 Alan Care, "A century of neglect and 1940s worker asbestos exposure"]. Whether this claim would have succeeded without the specifically pleaded breach of duty and in negligence only perhaps remains for discussion. The defendant was one of the UK’s leading asbestos manufacturers, with others including Turner & Newall and Cape, and attended meetings of the Asbestos Research Council, so would therefore presumably be fixed with ‘special’ early years industry knowledge of the hazards of asbestos [for further details see "FAQS" section of this website.
Proceedings were issued in the QBD mesothelioma fast track. The claim was settled in June 2010 for £108,495 net (£120,000 gross). Credit was given for the pneumoconiosis award but not for benefits paid pursuant to Workers Compensation Supplementation Scheme (OCAB) of £2,600 as this was a 1940s claim. Case report from: Apil PI Focus Vol 20 Issue 7 P.31 [September 2010]
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asbestos fibres
Case report: Mr. BS v David Morris International Limited. 2011.
Settlement. Mesothelioma and low dose asbestos exposure
Roger Hiorns, 9 Gough Square instructed by Alan Care of Thomson Snell & Passmore, Tunbridge Wells for the Claimant. Val Hughes, BLM, Birmingham for Defendant
A London QBD Mesothelioma Fast Track claim settled prior to Sienkiewicz v Grief/Knowsley MBC v Willmore judgments. This was undoubtedly an extraordinarily low dose occupational exposure claim. From 1963 to 1971 the Claimant was employed as an apprentice jeweller and subsequently as a jeweller. The defendants are today an international concern. Their website includes jewellery created for a James Bond movie. In these early days the Claimant worked in Farringdon Road and Charterhouse Street, London. The Claimant was provided with a square of asbestos board approximately 4 to 6 inches square. Once or twice a week on average the Claimant snapped a small piece from this board, wetted it and manipulated it with his fingers to make a paste-type material which could be used to hold the claws and settings of jewellery in place whilst it was soldered. Other employees [12 to 14 members of staff and 4 apprentices] used another method a Rawlplug [then] asbestos-based product in a tin again moistened and moulded. The Claimant developed mesothelioma. Dr Rudd was instructed. He had seen similar cases but very rarely over his many years experience. There was limited medical literature from the USA including. Kern, David G. and Howard Frumkin. "Asbestos-Related Disease in the Jewelry Industry: Report of Two Cases." American Journal of Industrial Medicine 13 (1988): 407-410.
Comment: The claim settled after some considerable opposition. How many DIY enthusiasts have used "Rawplug" when it contained asbestos? Again this claim illustrates the randomness of developing mesothelioma bought into sharp contrast as some laggers knee deep in asbestos do not develop the condition whereas others like BS receive such a miniscule dose and do. [Published APIL PI Focus Case Notes September 2011]
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Other mesothelioma settlements
Estate of A v LEB
Estate of J v Durastic Limited
S v MoD (Chatham Dockyard)
R v MoD (ditto)
BAR v SCA Packaging Limited.[ Imperial Paper Mills, Gravesend 1960-1979].
Estate of CP v Bovis Lend Lease Limited
Estate of JAW v Keir CB Limited
Estate of RB v Hollis Bros.
EWA v W G Sandell & Partners Limited [70/71-78/9]
FSP v MoD (Dockyard Portland 1971 -1978)
BS v Ellis Mechanical Services Limited
Estate of SSM v Rolls Royce (India) Limited (Kingsnorth Power station [ Lung cancer]
Estate of RCC v London Scaling Co. Limited and Tate & Lyle PLC (asbestosis)
KJ v HM Prison Service
Estate of RHP v Hornby Industries Limited
RJ v Servomex
Estate of AB v Harland & Woolf
Estate of LP v SEGB
BS v David Morris International Limited
Estate of MJL v H M Prison Services
Estate of JMN v MoD (Chatham Dockyard)
Estate of P v Costain
Estate of M v BT
Estate of B v BP
V v MoD (Chatham Dockyard)
Estate of L v Haven (Stanford-Le-Hope oil refineries).
O'L v Charles Wallis & Sons (Sacks) Limited (in liquidation)
Estate of C v Plessy Co Ltd.
Estate of BL v Sussex Police
Mrs M v Cape (an office worker at Hebden Mill).
Estate of S v KCC
Estate of M v Holland
Estate of R v MoD
W v Cape (Environmental exposure claim 1950s. Cape factory, Barking)
Barry Newman v MoD - Chatham Dockyard
H v MoD - Chatham Dockyard
I v Dicks Asbestos
KSH v MoD - Chatham Dockyard
Estate of Rev. S. v MoD - Chatham Dockyard
T v MoD - Chatham Dockyard
RC v MoD - Chatham Dockyard
Estate of P v William Steward London Limited
FH v Marks & Spencer
Estate of GC v Wards
Estate of KH v Costains and Crispin & Borst
M v London Electricity Board [successors in title RWE Npower PLC]
J v Dartford & Gravesham NHS Trust
Estate of FB v J & R Killick limited
Estate of WD v EDF Energy PLC and Wibau Winget Limited
Estate of B v CEGB
Estate of T v Foster Wheeler
Estate of IAK v G B Oils Limited
Estate of McC v St Gobain PLC
Estate of H v Kent County Council
Estate of S v Birds Eye and Eastbourne HA
G F v George Wimpey
Estate of PNS v BT PLC
WEN v Harland & Wolff PLC
Estate of DB v British Railways
RCS v BRB (Residuary) Limited
Various other claims including British Uralite; T&N, Turner Bros; Turner & Newall.
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"Toxic tort" (chemical poisoning) case reports
(other than asbestos dealt with by Alan Care)
Media interviews1990s with Alan Care:
http://youtu.be/uxNmZrtNRyo
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Porton Down litigation
Compensation claims arising from human experiments [ primarily consent] issues and human experimentation conducted at Porton Down from 1940s - 1980s..
BBC video news report :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_5010000/newsid_5018400/5018468.stm?bw=bb&mp=wm&news=1&bbcws=1Youtube
Also Porton Down ("Wales this week"). The personal injury damages claim for the family of Ronald Maddison's was settled for £100,000 for his unlawful death in 1953 due to Sarin GB nerve agent poisoning after the [then] longest inquest in UK legal history.
Claims were also settled for veterans by MI6 for unlawful LSD experiments again in the 1950s
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4745748.stm.
Porton Down veterans [National Arboretum]
After a formal mediation with the MoD the Porton Down multi-party action was settled [£3 million] ."Follow on claims" by other veterans were also subsequently settled. See "Comment and Discussion" section of this website for a detailed chronology for this litigation spanning over 14 years (from 1994 - 2009).
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Case reports: the "lindane" wood preservative pesticide litigation
Dozens of personal injury pesticide claims settled in the early 1990s. These were the first pesticide personal injury claims in the UK including for injury and illness caused by exposures to lindane and PCP [Pentachlorophenol] exposures. Lindane and PCP were then included in the "Dirty Dozen" list of pesticides. The majority of claims arose where pesticides were used as wood preservatives. Injury claims included both short and long term affects. Chronic health effects included aplastic anaemia and worker injuries at the Cuprinol factory in Frome, Wiltshire. The High Court trial of Gaskill v Rentokil (lindane/aplastic anaemia) proved unsuccessful. At the time Greenpeace toxic campaigners remarked "You [Alan Care] have done more for the pesticide victims than any one else for a hundred years". Cuprinol/Rentokill subsequently removed lindane/PCP from their products. See: David Watt, (1998) "Risks associated with chemical treatment residues in buildings", Structural Survey, Vol. 16 Iss: 3, pp.110 - 119.
www.rics.org/site/download_feed.aspx?fileID=2243&fileExtension
"Putting up with pesticides" from Pesticide News
http://www.pan-uk.org/pestnews/Issue/pn25/pn25p4.htm
http://www.pan-uk.org/pestnews/Actives/Lindane.htm
Case report: Barry Yates v Rentokil
A Rentokil employee wood treatment operative/sprayer who developed the extremely rare cancer soft tissue sarcoma (incidence 1/6 million) due to his exposure at work for 10 years using the pesticide PCP [and contaminant dioxin]. Settled out of court without admission of liability by insurers for £90,000 (1992).
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/pesticides-worker-gets-pounds-90000-for-cancer-1533911.html
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts51.html
Case report : Coalite dioxion litigation
Farming financial losses (cases funded by NFU). Contamination of land and livestock (including loss of milk production) by dioxin from Coalite factory incinerator in Chesterfield. Settled out of court for £200,000. (1993).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalite
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs225/en/index.html
Case report: Bladder cancer - chemists and others
Several claims settled for chemists employed in power stations and other occupations. (1998)
http://www.poptel.org.uk/gpmu/hs/hsbladcanc.html
Case report: "A" v MoD
Solvent induced CTE [Chronic Toxic Encephalopathy]. Fleet Air Arm mechanic using "Trike" (Trichloroethylene) for cleaning Sea King and Lynx helicopters. Settled for £300,000. (2000)
http://environment-agency.co.uk/business/topics/pollution/246.aspx
Case Report: BB v Norfolk Constabulary
Police officer who whilst searching for evidence on a waste tip developed Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Claim settled at mediation for £350,000 [plus full occupational pension].Previously published APIL Focus (2004)
http://www.nhs.uk/me/introduction.aspx
Case report: Ms E, Alison Sharkey and others
Hair dye claims (from 2003) settled by hair dye product manufacturers [including L'Oreal] and hair dressing salons including for claimant no longer able to tolerate wearing dark clothing containing azo dyes settled and highest settlement known to-date £40,000+. Also see article "So you are worth it. An update on hair dye claims" [4 May 2011] in "Comment and Discussion" - this website.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6319875.stm
Case report: "Toxic sofa" claim
In April 2010 the media widely reported about the mass "toxic sofa" litigation settlement. Some months before this a claim for a toxic sofa injury was settled by insurance claim loss adjusters. Mrs.C suffered a rash and allergic reaction. Dimethyl fumarate contained in a sachet [normally silica] was stitched into the upholstery of the furniture causing the problem. Dr White of St Johns and St Thomas', London provided expert medical opinion. Damages were recovered in full. (January 2009)
Case Report: Mrs B v HMSO
First UK kidney bladder cancer claim settlement. Mrs B was printing literature (including for the HSE) for the HMSO for many years. (2009)
http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/29/6/1014
Further claims [settled and damages recovered] for toxic substances and occupational/environmental illnesses have included for heavy metals (including lead; cadmium; chromium [hexavalent chromium]); platinum industrial process worker claims (allergy and asthma). Hydroquinone poisoning (car production workers - whites of eyes turned brown). SBS [Sick Building Syndrome] - "The Woolwich Children's Centre" litigation. Glutaraldehyde (nurses). Pesticide litigation including atrazine - water supply contamination (Cumbria. Various wood treatment chemicals - workers and consumers [other than PCP/lindane]. CPA arsenic timber process worker. Sulphuric acid (potato hulme dessication and "bystander" exposure (RTA/vehicle leak), Manchester. Numerous chemical warfare agents in addition to Sarin GB and VX nerve agents [Porton Down]. Organic solvents including toluene and trichloroethylene (several "trike" claims including a death at work and CTE injuries). Isocynates. Organophosphates. Occupational dermatitis. Multiple chemical sensitivity. Radiation. Various respiratory diseases. Food poisoning. Carbon monoxide claims. Leptospirosis. Legionnares disease (a hotel at Lake Garda). The De Montford University chemical store explosion [acrylamide]. Mercaptan exposures and injuries including M1 (Watford Gap vehicle spill litigation - [several of 200+ claims] and a factory escape in North Wales."Gower Chemicals" [Freon 11 - trichlorofluoromethane] litigation (for police officers). Malaria [BBC "Jim'll Fix It"] cameraman's death from filming in Africa.
Other compensation claims investigated over last 25 years where compensation has not been recovered have included:
Radiation injuries (atomic bomb tests veterans 1950s) www.bntva.com. 2001 Guardian report: "Police enquiry into 50's nuclear tests". Rob Evans 28 December
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2001/dec/28/nuclear.world2 2010. (14 May) Court of Appeal judgment. http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/Resources/JCO/Documents/Judgments/mod-ab-others-22112010.pdf 2011 (28 July) Supreme Court give permission to veterans to appeal.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14320465 March 2012. Supreme Court decision: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17370481
"Aerotoxics". [2008]. Assisting in gathering evidence for US law firm Calwells. For updates see: www.aerotoxic.org/.
OP sheep dips and heart disease.
www.pan-uk.org/pestnews/Issue/Pn31/pn31p11.htm). See "OP litigation suffers setback" http://www.pan-uk.org/pestnews/Issue/pn50/pn50p18b.htm
Also OPIN report: http://www.opin.info/OPReport.php
Mobile telephones (analogue). Electro magnetic radiation. "Electro sensitivity". Aluminium sulphate."Camelford" - SW Water poisoning - a "follow on" claim after the multi-party action settlement. Tobacco litigation. Philip Morris lung cancer claim issued in New York, US court but dismissed on forum grounds.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/smoking-can-seriously-damage-your-litigation-706636.html Chlorine (paper pulp). Skin cancer/melanoma and sun-bed use (2008). Lupus. Lymes disease. Pesticides and Parkinsons. Malaria (Sierra Leone conflict - MoD). Chlorine in water. Pesticides - Kawasaki disease; birth defects including CHARGE.
Many other personal injury and asbestos case reports can be found on other legal/law reports sites; media reports and other solicitors websites.