Asbestos Companies Off The Hook

Asbestos companies have found a new way to avoid paying compensation to asbestos victims. “This international corporate gamesmanship is a scandal - major asbestos companies not only gave their employees cancer, but are now finding ways to steal their compensation from them,” says John.

“We know about asbestos companies wriggling out of their responsibilities in Armley,” he continued. “After a long, hard battle we got compensation for the victims of cancer caused by asbestos from J W Roberts asbestos factory in Armley, which closed in 1956. That firm was bought by T&N, who were forced to accept liability in 1995 after trying every delaying tactic in the book, and started paying compensation - June Hancock and Evelyn Margereson bravely fought and won that first test case.

“But in 2001 giant US firm Federal Mogul bought T&N, and promptly declared itself bankrupt. US law allows a company to declare part of its business bankrupt and keep the rest trading, so Federal Mogul declared the asbestos sections of T&N bankrupt and immediately stopped paying out compensation. Victims’ payments stopped - one man’s cheque for several thousand pounds bounced - and court cases were closed until the bankruptcy process is finished. But that’s likely to take many more years, and in the meantime UK victims get nothing. One thing mesothelioma - the cancer caused by asbestos - victims don’t have is time, because although it may lie dormant for 30 years, once it becomes active victims seldom have more than two years to live. There is no cure.

“And now Federal Mogul are doing it again - they’re planning to buy another company with big asbestos liabilities, Bendix, from Honeywell International. Bendix have court cases pending from 47,000 asbestos victims from their factories in the UK and around the world. If the deal goes ahead they’ll all go to the back of the queue waiting for Federal Mogul’s bankruptcy administration - and British, Asian and Brazilian claimants will be edged out by Americans claiming much greater sums.

“I remember June Hancock saying "It proves however small you are you can fight and however big you can lose," after her court victory, John Battle added. “We’ll not stop fighting now.”