The massive human cost of asbestos poisoning in Ulster was starkly highlighted this week when it emerged that compensation pay outs for victims and their families will be slashed. Six people whose lives have been shattered by the killer dust talk exclusively to Belfast Telegraph reporters Brendan McDaid and Michael McHugh
06 May 2006

A House of Lords ruling which drastically cut the liability of employers in asbestos cases has greatly disappointed victims and their families, it was claimed today.

One Ulster victims' group described the move as "unjust" and a "step backwards" for sufferers.

The House of Lords upheld three test appeals, effectively brought by company insurers, in which it was argued that damages awards should be limited in cases involving several former employers, none of whom could be specifically blamed for the onset of the fatal asbestos-related lung disease mesothelioma.

Each company will now have to pay a proportion of the damages and because of the time involved in the onset of the disease, many will have gone out of business.

Fiona Sterritt from the Justice for Asbestos Victims' lobby group said she was disappointed by the news.

"As far as we are concerned we think this is a step backwards and removes compensation for victims and their families in a way which is unjust," she said.

"At that time a lot of people had several employers, they went where the work was, so this will affect them very badly."

Mesothelioma is an extremely aggressive form of cancer caused almost exclusively by asbestos fibres in the lungs.

The decision will affect UK compensation claims running into millions of pounds.

About 1,900 people die in the UK each year from the disease. In Northern Ireland, the Belfast shipyard was the main employer linked with the problem and was the subject of a multi-million pound settlement for victims and their families some years ago.

The leading test case considered by the law lords involved Englishwoman Sylvia Barker (58), who was awarded £152,000 in the High Court three years ago for the death of her husband, Vernon aged 57 in 1996.

He was exposed to asbestos while employed at a steelworks as well as for another company and for short periods during 20 years of self-employment.

Mrs Barker's damages will now be reassessed by the High Court to reflect the proportion of blame attributable to his time with Summers rather than 100% liability for his illness and death.

Belfast City councillor Jim Rodgers said that the news was a blow for relatives and sufferers.

'It will be terrible blow for people'

June Brown's husband Robbie died in 2003 from Mesothelioma after founding the Justice for Asbestos Victims lobby group which has been pressing for improved compensation for sufferers and their families.

She said she was dismayed by this week's judgment.

"It is ridiculous. If somebody has been exposed to asbestos in earlier years then they have it for the rest of their lives," she said.

"This means that if that company goes out of business there is no comeback and there is no justice and it boosts insurance companies who will do anything to get out of paying out.

"It is terrible, it will come as a terrible blow for people, it is horrendous."

Mr Brown (65) was a former shipyard worker who lived in Carrickfergus.

He was a tenacious lobbyist for the rights of victims, many of whom received no official compensation.

It is estimated that 80-100 people die each year in Northern Ireland from an asbestos-related illness.

"I have been speaking to several members of our group in these last three or four days who have been saying that their husbands have been diagnosed with this and it is very hard for them to hear this," Mrs Brown added.

Ten years in contact with the lethal fibre

Gerry Clancy from Ballymagroarty currently has active claims against a local company and the Ministry of Defence after being diagnosed with pleural plaques in 2002.

In the coming weeks the 63-year-old from Dunluce Court will have to travel to Belfast for stomach and bone tests after abnormal glands were discovered which may be linked to his asbestos condition.

He has also undergone blood sampling, lung function tests, scans and immune level tests recently.

The seriousness of the condition was hammered home during a chat with a specialist shortly after his diagnosis.

"I was 60 then and I was told normally a man of my age should live till 75 but I would have five years cut off that. That was three years ago.

"They also give you all the percentages for cancer and the other things that can develop. It's hard to listen to that."

Gerry began working directly with blue, grey and white asbestos in the dockyards in 1959 and spent the next ten years in contact with the lethal fibre.

He said: "I was in the navy and worked with asbestos and there was no precautions back then at all.

"I'm from Dublin originally and I moved to Derry in 1966 and then I worked locally where we had to clean machinery and tables and that, and were exposed to asbestos."

Mr Clancy said it was a sad day when people who went to work in innocence and good faith were denied compensation for their lives being limited.

"Asbestosis has caused problems for everybody who has it.

"The House of Lords is also trying to turn around and say anyone with pleural plaques will get no compensation."

And Mr Clancy warned that the problem and health risks with asbestos were still active.

He said: "A lot of people still have old ironing boards, the metal plates of which are made from asbestos, and there are a hell of a lot of buildings in this city that still have a lot of asbestos in them."

Fury as people's lives are shattered

 

Four people in the north west whose lives have been shattered by asbestos poisoning today expressed their fury at Governmement plans to slash compensation claims.

The widow of a former Mayor of Derry, killed by asbestosis, and three other people currently suffering from diseases linked to the lethal fibre warned that the legal setback would devastate swelling numbers of local people being diagnosed.

The warning was issued after the House of Lords this week backed a motion which removes much of the burden of compensation from employers.

Former Mayoress Mary Carlin's husband Tony died three years ago at the age of 56 from mesothelioma, a terminal condition caused by exposure to blue asbestos.

Mrs Carlin said that the House of Lords' decision would only add to the financial difficulties being experienced by many people.

"All that these people have gone through, dealing with their sick relative, then all the expense of running to solicitors, which comes out of their pockets, and now they have cut their compensation. It's very unfair."

Mrs Carlin said the Government should be assisting company bosses in compensating families, not blocking claims.

She claimed: "The Government allowed asbestos to be used and they knew the dangers of it."

Mrs Carlin said increased attendance at the local support group meetings showed that the problem seemed to be increasing.

"There are a lot of new members coming. There are currently 30 to 40 people turning up to meetings and most of them have asbestos in them.

"At the time Tony was diagnosed the doctor told us that this was only the tip of the iceberg in Derry."

Other health experts have concurred that incidents of the deadly mesothelioma will continue to peak in Northern Ireland until 2020.

Angela Clarke, founder of the Victims of Asbestos North West, said that more and more people were now seeking assistance from as far away as Coleraine, Limavady and Ballymoney.

Mrs Clarke, who herself contracted the less fatal pleural plaques form of the disease while washing her husband's asbestos-riddled clothes in the 60s, said: "Many of these people have had claims going for a few years and nearly settled and now they will have to be put on the back burner.

"Now they could get even less than half of what they would have been entitled to before."

Her husband also suffers from pleural plaques. Two local men directly affected by the looming compensation crisis today also lashed out at the move.

Waterside man James 'Junior' McIntosh (63), who was diagnosed with asbestosis four years ago, described the cuts as "another knife" into those seeking compensation claims.

Gerry Clancy from Ballymagroarty also has active claims against his former employers after being diagnosed with pleural plaques in 2002.

The 63-year-old said it was a sad day when people who went to work in good faith were denied compensation for their lives being limited.

"I don't understand why anyone would do that," he said.

Ms Clarke added that one avenue open to those affected was to challenge the House of Lords ruling by taking their case to the European courts in Brussels.

'Junior' angry at reduced claims

Waterside man James 'Junior' McIntosh, who was diagnosed with asbestosis four years ago, today described the cuts as "another knife" into those seeking compensation claims.

The 63-year-old from Elder Crescent was also pursuing a case against his former employer when the House of Lords made its ruling this week that employer liability is to be limited.

Mr McIntosh said he is still hopeful his case will go through, but added that he was angered by moves to slash funding generally for those affected by the progressive disease.

"It seems that the big insurance companies are exhausting every avenue to try to limit compensations." he said.

"I don't think the government should have had any involvement in any of this at all. It is to do with the employers. After all they were the people who paid the wages."

Mr McIntosh worked for a North West company from 1965 to 1978 and was regularly exposed to asbestos fibres.

"I worked in the construction end of things and people were not aware that any of this could happen back then."