Two recent cases concerning asbestos-related lung cancer may have wide-reaching implications for claimants, says Vijay Ganapathy
Following the last update (SJ 159/7), the courts have dealt with some interesting issues which have not arisen previously. Recently, they grappled with a particularly difficult causation issue arising in an asbestos-related lung cancer case.
Lung cancer has other causes (such as smoking), so the first step in establishing causation is to prove it is asbestos related. As science does not allow us to determine with any degree of certainty which agent caused the disease, the claimant has to show the levels of asbestos exposure are above certain thresholds. If this is proven against any particular defendant, then the asbestos exposure is said to have ‘more than doubled the ...
