A widow has won hundreds of thousands of pounds damages for the death of her husband – who was struck down by asbestos-related cancer after years spent working as a carpet fitter.
Royal Courts of Justice, London.
Colin Wolstenholme, of Bury , died aged 70 after a long struggle with mesothelioma – a devastating and incurable cancer of the lining of the lungs often associated with asbestos.
He went from being a strong and active man to someone racked by pain and acute breathlessness, London’s High Court heard.
He ended up reliant on his loving family for all his needs and the father-of-three finally died in April 2014.
He loved his work as a carpet fitter and had striven to keep working for as long as possible before the pain of his illness became unbearable.
His widow, Lorraine, sued after his death, seeking damages from Mr Wolstenholme’s onetime employers, Manchester flooring specialists, Leach’s of Shudehill Ltd.
Judge Martin McKenna today awarded Mrs Wolstenholme £90,000 for the dreadul “pain and suffering” her husband endured before his death.
She will also receive £25,000 for care and assistance she gave him and £30,000 for “loss of non-financial dependency” on him as a devoted husband.
The judge’s awards totalled over £163,000, however the final amount of the widow’s compensation will be much higher than that.
Substantial sums she is due to reflect his lost earnings and her financial dependency on him have yet to be calculated.
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Mr Wolstenholme worked for Leach’s for “a number of years – during the course of which he was exposed to asbestos dust”, said the judge.
The company admitted liability for his death but disputed the amount of compensation due to his widow.
Its lawyers claimed Mr Wolstenholme’s life expectancy would have been curtailed in any event by factors such as smoking and high cholesterol.
But Judge McKenna said evidence suggested he had given up smoking some time ago, while cholesterol was not a danger factor.
“He went from being an active working man to someone who was totally incapacitated and in great pain until his death on 4 July 2014,” said the judge.
He was a generally fit man before he became ill, the court heard, and would probably have had another 16 years of life but for the cancer which killed him.
Mrs Wolstenholme was awarded £90,000 for the pain and suffering endured by her husband; £25,000 for care and assistance, and £30,000 for “loss of non-financial dependency”.
This relates to the fact that Mr Wolstenholme used to drive his wife around by car, while she also relied on him for house maintenance and DIY.
Other heads of damages have yet to be finalised and agreed between the lawyers.
Source: Manchester Evening News
