TWO landmark Merseyside asbestos cases are heading for the Supreme Court, after defendants lodged appeals with the Law Lords.
It means two families who fought to set legal precedents for “low level” asbestos exposure now face an agonising wait for their compensation.
Relatives of Dianne Willmore and Enid Costello won the right to pay-outs worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Their cases set legal history when senior judges ruled they should get compensation.
The rulings were set to open the floodgates to other claims from cancer sufferers who were exposed to “low levels” of asbestos. Mrs Willmore, 49, died from the aggressive lung cancer mesothelioma after apparently being exposed to deadly asbestos dust while studying at Bowring School, in Huyton, Knowsley.
And Mrs Costello’s family claim she passed away after breathing in the dust when she was a secretary at a packaging factory in Ellesmere Port.
But Knowsley Council and manufacturer Greif UK have won the right to have their cases heard in the highest court in the land. Because they deal with similar legal issues, Law Lords will hear the cases side by side, starting on October 26.
Birkenhead solicitor Norman Jones, who represents Mrs Costello’s family, told LDP Legal: “It will be the fifth time that they have been to court as part of the process. It’s a tough ordeal for them.” Commenting on why Knowsley and Greif may have lodged the new appeals, he added: “There are likely to be many mesothelioma victims who are going to die in the next 20 years.
“They will look at this as an opportunity to do damage limitation.”
Mrs Willmore’s case is being handled by Ruth Davies, at John Pickering and Partners.
Her family will be denied access to the £240,000 compensation, which she won after winning her case in the High Court in July last year, until the case is over. Knowsley appealed the High Court decision in October but lost. Mrs Willmore tragically died the following day, after hearing the council could appeal to the Supreme Court.
She attended Bowring between 1972 and 1978 and said she was exposed to asbestos dust released during building work and chipped tiles in the toilets there.
Eastham-based Mrs Costello died, aged 74, in 2006. She worked at the factory, which was then owned by Van Leer UK, between 1966 and 1984.
A Knowsley council spokesman said: “The council is absolutely clear that Mrs Willmore suffered from a severe illness which was caused by exposure to asbestos. However, we do not accept that her illness was caused by exposure to asbestos in Bowring School.
“The council has a duty to protect public money and that is why it is so important that this matter is considered and resolved at the highest level. All of Knowsley’s school buildings fully comply with management of asbestos regulations.”
