Claim settles for £375,000 for widow of former Fitter’s Mate.

Mr Reed suffered from Covid during Christmas 2021, prompting him to see his GP due to experiencing pain in the right side of his chest. In January 2022 fluid was drained from Mr Reed’s lungs which was very painful. Mr Reed had several further tests and scans but nothing was confirmed. It was not until December 2022 that Mr Reed was informed he may have mesothelioma.  At this point, he stopped working. A biopsy in January 2023 then confirmed this awful diagnosis. Mr Reed underwent immunotherapy treatment and chemotherapy treatment.

Mr Reed continued to become more unwell and very sadly passed away on 5 December 2023.

Mr Reed was exposed to asbestos in the 1970s, when working as a fitter’s mate, shadowing plumbers and welders.

Mr Reed spent time working at Sussex University for a year and replaced all of the heating pipes throughout the University campus. This involved working in the plant rooms and main service ducts of the University to strip out the heating mains. As part of this, Mr Reed also worked in the main boiler house which housed three large boilers. These boilers had 14 inch pipes which were lagged with asbestos.

The plant rooms also contained a significant number of asbestos lagged pipes. The typical diameter of the asbestos lagged pipes in the plant rooms was six inches. Mr Reed worked around different asbestos lagging to include blue, white and brown asbestos. Mr Reed recalled that the pipes were very old and were in desperate need of being replaced. Mr Reed worked on his knees in a crouched position in order to cut the pipes. There was no ventilation, meaning the thick asbestos dust was constantly inhaled by Mr Reed.

Mr Reed was also responsible for cleaning up after himself, having to pick up the old asbestos lagging with his hands. Mr Reed was exposed to asbestos dust constantly and often coughed because it was difficult to breathe with it present in the environment. After a year, a memo was sent to Mr Reed by the foreman and a team came in and removed the asbestos present, but Mr Reed had already been heavily exposed to asbestos on a daily basis.

RWK Goodman sent a Letter of Claim to the defendant. We ensured we took the time to prepare a detailed witness statement dealing with the circumstances of Mr Reed’s exposure. We obtained a medical report confirming that Mr Reed’s mesothelioma was caused by his asbestos exposure during his time working for the defendant. After Mr Reed’s sad passing, his widow, Mrs Reed continued the claim on behalf of his estate.

Despite repeated efforts to settle the claim, it was difficult to reach an agreement which reflected the awful experiences that Mr and Mrs Reed had been through. RWK Goodman prepared to take the claim to a High Court hearing, but just days before an agreement was reached, with the claim settling for £375,000.

Rachel Hicks, an Associate in RWK Goodman’s expert Industrial Disease team, represented Mr Reed and was able to secure a substantial settlement for Mrs Reed on behalf of his estate.