Health & Safety: Asbestosis blow

The High Court has ruled against awarding compensation to the widow of a man who died after contracting an asbestos-related illness because it could not be proved at which of two employers he was working when he contracted the illness.

The ruling could have implications for many of the thousands of asbestosis claims in the pipeline, since it is common for cases that come to court to involve more than one defendant.

The man, who died in 1996 after developing the asbestos-related cancer mesothelima, had worked for both Leeds City Council in the early 1960s, and six years later for the Waddington building in Leeds.