LANDMARK ASBESTOS COMPENSATION RULING
Submitted by Guest on Sat, 28/02/2009 - 23:56
11 January 2001
LANDMARK ASBESTOS COMPENSATION RULING
Thousands of homeowners could be eligible for compensation after a landmark legal ruling in favour of a South Australian woman dying from an asbestos-related disease.
Helene Edwards, 57, was awarded $803 403 by the Dust Disease Tribunal of New South Wales after she was exposed to asbestos while installing fibro sheeting in her home more than twenty years ago. She is believed to be the first home renovator to successfully sue an asbestos manufacturer. Mrs Edwards, a mother of three, has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, a malignant tumour in the lungs, and has been told she has only a year or two to live.
Conceding they were liable in the case, James Hardie & Co Pty Ltd was ordered to pay damages, which included $175 000 for pain and suffering – the largest award of its type for a victim of mesothelioma.
Mrs Edwards’ solicitor Tanya Segelov claimed that Australia had used more asbestos per head than any other nation in the world with one in three homes and buildings built before 1982 containing asbestos in wall/ceiling insulation, vinyl tiles and fibro-cement sheeting. Ms Segelov said Mrs Edwards’ case could open the way for legal action by other home renovators suffering from asbestos-related diseases caused by exposure to the deadly fibre in their homes.
Queensland Asbestos-Related Disease Support Society president Shirley White welcomed the outcome as a victory for all sufferers of asbestos diseases, and said the case should also be a warning to people about the dangers of asbestos when renovating an old home.
‘No matter how much money people get for asbestos disease it is not enough for the life which is going to be lost,” Mrs White said.
