Mesothelioma Compensation with No Proof of Employment

Previous employment caused mesothelioma later in life

Mr R was employed by Cape, for a period of only a few weeks, between December 1960 and February 1961 as a general labourer on a construction contract at the Isle of Grain Oil Refinery in Kent. During his employment he was responsible for filling the cavities between the outer and inner shell of tanks with asbestos.

After developing mesothelioma later in life, Mr R came to us to seek legal advice.

Sadly, Mr R died within 3 months of instructing IM at the age of 65.  He had no evidence of his employment with Cape, and his employment predated records held by the Inland Revenue.

Cape denied ever having employed Mr R and said that even if they had employed him, asbestos was not used on the site at which Mr R had worked at the time.

Mr Rs family was unable to provide any further information on his employment with Cape. The Army was contacted to establish if there was anything in Mr Rs discharge papers regarding his employer on discharge following National Service and the People's History Museum were asked to consider their archive records, as were BP and Interserve Piling Limited for whom Mr R had continued to work at the Isle of Grain after his employment by Cape had ended.

Cape eventually admitted employment and the evidence of a consulting engineer confirmed that Mr R had probably used asbestos during his employment by them, which was believed to have caused his mesothelioma later in life.

Court proceedings were started and an interim payment was secured for Mrs R.  The matter settled for the sum of £317,878.20 the day before the trial was scheduled to take place.