Boost for hospices as insurers drop legal fight over care costs

The High Court ruled last year that a company responsible for the death of a man from an asbestos related cancer should contribute to his hospice care costs but the decision was on hold while insurers planned to appeal the decision.

However just days before that was due to be heard the appeal has been dropped clearing the way for similar payments to be made in other cases. Caroline Pinfold from Irwin Mitchell solicitors who represented James Willson’s family in the test claim last year welcomed the news and said the decision would provide comfort for many industrial illness sufferers.

A specialist in asbestos related disease cases, she said: “The judgment handed down in August last year which found that the company responsible for Mr Willson’s death must cover all of his hospice care costs has provided much comfort to his family, who remain extremely grateful to those who cared for him.”

In 1951 Mr Willson went to work erecting new boilers at Deptford Power Station where he was regularly exposed to asbestos. He died in March 2007 at a hospice in Hackney, London after being diagnosed with mesothelioma. One of his daughters said the hospice staff could not do enough for him “and it seemed unfair the company that caused his suffering did not have to pay the hospice in some way.” The judge agreed last year. Caroline Pinfold said by withdrawing their appeal the defendants had recognised the landmark decision was right.