6 figure compensation for family of former builder living in Panama
Mr H was born and raised in Liverpool. His first job was as a builder's apprentice for a small firm – Nu Décor – where his father also worked. Mr H attended evening classes at Liverpool Technical College as part of his apprenticeship.
His job centred around demolition and refurbishment. He would knock down walls and ceilings and rip out old fireplaces and stoves. There was often asbestos board around the appliances as heat protection. He would remove the old crumbling asbestos board and replace it with a non-asbestos material. When he went home in the evening, he would be covered from head to toe in dust.
This was his only known asbestos exposure. He eventually moved to Florida with his family in 1990 and started his own project management consultancy business and then moved to Panama in 2011 for a simpler life.
Mr H had always enjoyed good health and his busy job meant he kept in shape. In 2020, during the Covid pandemic, he travelled back home to Liverpool to be assessed by the school of tropical medicine. Shortly afterwards he was diagnosed with a fungal infection in his brain which then led to diabetes. He then attended Hospital in Panama because of a cut in his foot that was not healing and was told he would need to have one of his toes amputated.
One of the pre-surgery checks was a chest X-ray and it was discovered that he had fluid in his lungs. The fluid was drained but returned several weeks later and further testing revealed he had stage 4 mesothelioma which was too advanced for any first line treatment. Sadly, he died several weeks after receiving his diagnosis.
All evidence was provided by Mrs H and their son. They were able recall several conversations they had with him about his work. He had spoken to his family about his asbestos exposure upon receiving his diagnosis and Mrs H was able to recall several conversations decades earlier about asbestos he encountered as a school leaver.
Mr H found Fieldfisher online and reached it out to the team. Natalie Amara took detailed statements from the family and obtained Mr H's biopsy report from Panama which she had translated. She obtained his National Insurance contributions record from HMRC and confirmed that there was no employer's liability insurance on record. She therefore successfully applied to the DMPS (Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme).
The family, who were financially dependent on Mr H's business, had spent their life savings on private medical care for their father in Panama in the weeks before he died. They were very relieved to receive an award of £171,729. Following settlement, they said:
"That’s absolutely a blessing to our family! Once again I can’t thank you enough for everything. This will be a major boost and help for me and my mum and we are extremely grateful for it all."
Contact us
For further information about mesothelioma compensation claims, please call call Natalie Amara on 03304607113 or email natalie.amara@fieldfisher.com.
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