Appeal judgment on asbestos case imminent

LAWYERS who won a landmark victory for victims of asbestos-related disease are waiting for a decision from the Court of Appeal this week.

Engineering company T&N, once the world's biggest manufacturer of asbestos products, is appealing against a decision made last October awarding damages to two victims of asbestos-related disease.

This was the first time damages were awarded for asbestos claims to someone who had not worked in a plant.

As children all the victims had played with the white dust that lay on the school playground and in the streets near the factory.

Leeds High Court ruled that T&N knew of the harmful effects of asbestos as early as 1933 and so should have protected people who lived in the Armley area from that date.

Evelyn Margereson, 70, was represented by John Pickering & Partners. She was awarded £50,000 for the death of her husband, Arthur, who had mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lungs. June Hancock, 60, who also contracted the disease, was awarded £65,000. She was represented by Irwin Mitchell.

Up to 40 cases for other people in the area are waiting on the appeal decision.

A Derby couple have failed in their bid to find a city council in breach of statutory duty under the Housing Act 1985. Mr and Mrs Outten took Derby City Council to the High Court, claiming that the local authority did not inform the couple of structural defects to their aluminium bungalow before they bought it. The Outtens were represented by Derby firm Gadsbys.