Huddersfield firm in £145,000 asbestos payout

Mar 6 2009 by Andrew Hirst, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Angela has an older sister, 39-year-old Caroline. Angela’s sons are seven-year-old Louis and three-year-old Henry and Caroline’s son is Charles, also aged three.

Angela said that her father was diagnosed with lung cancer in November 2007.

He was so fit the surgeons gave him the option of trying radical surgery to remove his lung and diaphragm – and he underwent the operation at Castle Hill Hospital in Hull.

It has taken him a year to recover from such a massive operation, but sadly doctors broke bad news to him only last Friday that it seems the cancer has now spread to his stomach.

The devastated family are waiting for the full diagnosis.

Judge Sir Robert Nelson, sitting in the High Court, heard that Mr Gardner had to bring his case to court because insurance giants, Royal and Sun Alliance Insurance Plc, disputed claims that they were the company's insurers in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

But the judge accepted “compelling’’ evidence from C Watson and Sons Ltd’s executive director, Craig Watson, who said the firm had been insured “for yonks” by Royal and Sun Alliance, or its predecessors. Mr Watson’s evidence was backed up by an insurance broker.

The company has been dormant since the mid 1980s.

Sir Robert ordered the insurance company to pay Mr Gardner £145,000 damages, plus his legal costs of fighting the case, estimated at more than £40,000.

Angela said she felt angry with the insurers, who she accused of “trying to get out of their responsibilities when they have had their premiums.’’