Settlement for family of Twinings Tea factory pipefitter | Fieldfisher
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Case Study

Settlement for family of Twinings Tea factory pipefitter

A man with short, light hair and glasses stands against a light-colored background. He is wearing a striped, dark suit with a light yellow tie and a light-colored shirt, looking directly at the camera with a neutral expression.
Andrew Morgan
A close-up view of an old, insulated pipe system with torn and deteriorating insulation in a basement. The pipes are fixed to the wooden beams of the ceiling, with a window in the background letting in natural light.
Mr H was exposed to asbestos while working for the famous tea company in a new factory in Andover. His wife continued his claim against the company's insurers after Mr H sadly died in January 2020.

Mr H began work as a pipefitter for W H Gould, heating engineers based in north-west London. The firm had a maintenance contract with Twinings tea company based in the East End.

Following a fire at the Twinings factory, Mr H helped repair damaged pipework. Twinings was so impressed with his work, they offered him a job in London with a planned move to a new factory in Andover, Hampshire, where he worked as a maintenance fitter.

Once the new factory was fully built, his responsibilities included looking after the boiler where he came into contact with pipes lagged with asbestos. Some of the factory's interior walls were made of asbestos sheets, which were occasionally damaged by forklift truck drivers and had to be replaced. Typically, Mr H would remove the broken sheets and drill holes into new sheets to screw them into place. He also replaced original pipework coated with asbestos lagging, using a saw blade or similar.

Mr H was diagnosed with mesothelioma in April 2019. He contacted HASAG for advice.

HASAG helped Mr H with a claim for state benefits and offered a list of solicitors experienced in asbestos disease claims. He contacted Andrew Morgan, who visited him at home to take a statement. Andrew obtained a report from a medical expert who confirmed the diagnosis. He prepared a Schedule of Loss and Expenses detailing the value of the claim and obtained a statement from one of Mr H's colleagues who had also repaired damaged asbestos sheeting.

Andrew was able to identify the company that is a successor to Twinings, made a claim, and was soon in touch with the insurers. Sadly, Mr H died in January 2020 and his wife continued with the claim.

Andrew obtained further evidence, about Mrs H's own health and financial circumstances, and prepared a fresh Schedule of Loss. He advised her to make a formal Part 36 offer at £180,000 and put forward a lower "time limited" offer of £170,000 to hopefully bring the other side to the point of settlement. Unfortunately, they did not respond, so Andrew issued court proceedings.

At this point, the other side contacted Andrew and offered to settle at £170,000. Andrew said that he had already made a "time limited" offer of this figure on behalf of Mrs H and the Defendant had not accepted in time. That offer was no longer open, so he did not advise Mrs H to settle at that figure.

Andrew was then able to negotiate a settlement at £175,000 with which Mrs H was delighted.

Contact us

For further information about mesothelioma compensation claims, please call Andrew Morgan on 0330 460 6737 or email andrew.morgan@fieldfisher.com.

Alternatively

All enquiries are completely free of charge and we will investigate all funding options for you including no win, no fee. Find out more about no win no fee claims.