Joan is the widow of Peter who, in late 2002, was diagnosed with nasal adenocarcinoma - a fatal tumour of the nose. He had spent the previous 10 years working in a furniture assembly factory where he was a transport manager. With our help he brought a claim for damages against both the factory owners, and the transport company for whom he was employed, contending that he was negligently exposed to wood dust - and in particular hard wood dust - which they knew or should have known caused this condition.
Within 6 months of instructing us Peter died, a very painful death. The action was taken over by his widow. The Defendants robustly denied any responsibility. They suggested that all possible precautions were taken, and the amount of hard wood dust in the atmosphere was anyway very small. They also argued that the cancer from which Peter died could have been caused by a variety of agents and there was no definitive evidence that it would have been caused by exposure to dust. All sides instructed engineers and cancer specialists. We were able to obtain witness statements from no less than 21 colleagues of the deceased attesting to the dustiness of the atmosphere in the factory. Finally, after very lengthy negotiations we were able to persuade the Defendants to make an offer in settlement - to the widow and her son - of just under £200,000. Given that the deceased's son was a minor, the settlement required the approval of the Court who in sanctioning the settlement confirmed that this had been an extremely complex case with very significant risks for Joan and accordingly the settlement was a very good sum.