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Asbestos Exposure through Family Member

If you or a member of your family is suffering an industrial illness caused through exposure to asbestos, it is possible that our specialist personal injury lawyers could help you to claim compensation.  Contact us today on 0800 032 8511 for claim advice, or by completing a claim enquiry form.

Asbestos Related Diseases
Who Can Claim Compensation?
Compensation
Our Industrial Disease Lawyers

Asbestos Related Diseases

There are a number of conditions that can be attributed to asbestos exposure, such as asbestosis, lung cancer, pleural thickening and mesothelioma.  This is something that has been widely known for some time, however since 1965 it has also been discovered that exposure to fairly small amounts of asbestos can also be harmful.

Therefore it is now accepted that second hand exposure, through cleaning and handling a family member's work clothes for example, can also cause these illnesses.

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Who Can Claim Compensation?

If your spouse, partner, parent or child was exposed to asbestos through their working conditions and brought home their clothing to be washed, you may be entitled to make a personal injury claim if you have suffered an asbestos related disease as a result.

These type of diseases do not show themselves quickly after exposure.  They can take many years to develop.  By then the person you need to make a claim against (perhaps an employer) may no longer be alive or in business.  Pursuing these claims is complicated and is best dealt with by an experienced personal injury lawyer. 

In every asbestos compensation claim, medical evidence will be required.  Detailed expert evidence is often also required in disease cases to show that the condition suffered by a claimant was caused by exposure to a particular substance.

In any personal injury claim it is necessary to show that the person you are making a claim against owed you a duty of care, that they breached that duty of care (were negligent), and that the injury you sustained was a reasonably foreseeable consequence of that negligence.

It could still be possible to begin a claim decades after the exposure occurred, although for the most part this would need to have been after 1965 or to have continued beyond 1965.

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Compensation

There are two elements to a compensation award.  The first is for the pain and suffering you may have gone through and what is known as loss of amenity.  This is called general damages and can include an award for your inability to do things after your symptoms began that you used to be able to do before, eg, wash your car, look after your garden, walk the dog, etc.  The award for loss of amenity can be for a short period after a condition develops or for ever if that is what the medical evidence supports.

The second element of a compensation award is for your losses and expenses and is known as special damages.  It is important to keep receipts for any expenditure you have related to the illness, so that these can be reclaimed.  The aim is to put you back in a position financially as if the illness had never occurred.

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Our Industrial Disease Lawyers

Here at The Legal Line, our personal injury lawyers are experts in claiming damages for victims of asbestos related disease.  They can offer specialist guidance and claim advice for anyone who believes that they, or a member of their family, have been affected.

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