If you have recently been diagnosed with an asbestos disease you may be considering making a claim for asbestos disease compensation. How do you go about doing this? Who do you turn to? A solicitor, yes, but how do you find the right one? Someone who really knows what they are doing in this area of law? An expert, from a firm of mesothelioma and asbestos law solicitors? Someone who will not only get the most compensation possible for you and your family, but make the experience as stress free as they can, too? After all, having just been diagnosed with asbestos disease, you will be going through enough as it is.
If you ‘Google’ the term ‘asbestos compensation solicitor’, you will be provided with the details of plenty of solicitors. However, which of them should you choose? Perhaps, one of the ones that appear on the first page of Google? Or maybe you will decide to opt for a solicitor that is local to you?
We have put together a list of some of the factors that we think you should consider before making what could be one of the most important decisions of your life.
Asbestos Disease – In a Nutshell
Before going on to suggest what you might want to look for in an asbestos disease solicitor, it’s probably worth taking a brief look at the connection between asbestos exposure and the disease itself. This might give you a better insight into why the asbestos disease claims process can be fraught with difficulties and therefore, why making the right choice of solicitor can be crucial.
The types of asbestos that were most dangerous to health, amosite and crocidolite, were banned from being used or imported into the country in 1985. The final type of asbestos that was commonly used in industry and construction, chrysotile, was banned in 1999. Yet still, in 2019, asbestos disease compensation solicitors take on new asbestos disease claims every day,
As a rough guide, it takes between 20 and 50 years from the time that the exposure took place for the disease to develop to the stage where it is diagnosed as an asbestos related illness. By ‘exposure to asbestos’, we mean inhaling the fibres given off by asbestos, which as a general rule happened when it was being worked on in the workplace – factories, shipyards, railway engineering depots, dockyards, factories, on trawler boats – to name but a few occupations where exposure to asbestos was rife.
The sheer length of time it takes before a person gets to know that he or she is suffering from asbestos disease, means that the first time that it becomes possible to make a claim, will be many, many years down the line from when they were exposed. It was the companies that exposed their workers to asbestos dust and fibres without warning them of the dangers of doing so, or providing them with protective equipment, that were responsible for the asbestos illnesses that many of their employees suffered from as a result. It is against those companies, that asbestos compensation claims are made. Often though, the company or companies that were responsible will no longer be in existence. Can you still claim, if you are unable to trace the company? What about contacting an insurance company, if you can find out who the insurance company were? Are they still liable to pay compensation after all this time?
All of these questions and more will be capable of being answered by an experienced, specialist asbestos disease solicitor.
Tips for Finding the Right Asbestos Compensation Solicitor</ b>
Here are our suggestions, advice and the questions to ask, for finding the right asbestos disease claims solicitor – or at least the one that is right for you;
- 1. I have used a solicitor for other legal matters and they were very good. I trust them. Why shouldn’t I use them to pursue a claim for asbestos disease compensation for me? We agree that having trust in your solicitor is important. When you have used a solicitor before and they did a good job for you, the temptation is to see them as your ‘go to’ solicitor for any legal issue you might need help with. However, it cannot be stressed enough that when dealing with asbestos disease claims, it is very, very important that you seek out a specialist. Most experienced asbestos solicitors will only deal with asbestos compensation cases. Sometimes they may also handle other serious injury or industrial disease cases, but first and foremost, asbestos disease claims will be their main specialism. ‘High Street law practices that cover a number of areas of law, such as conveyancing, wills, probate, crime and maybe general personal injury law are not likely to have someone with the necessary asbestos claims expertise, within their ranks. What you should be wary of, is a solicitor offering to take on your asbestos claim despite having only done one or two asbestos claims before, or worse still, not having done any. Whilst it may be a generous offer made with good intent, it is also, potentially, a recipe for disaster.
- 2. Carry out your own research, even if a solicitor is recommended to you. Use the power of the internet to help you find some names of asbestos disease compensation solicitors that you think might be suitable. Alternatively if someone has been recommended to you, you can do some internet research on them, to see if there are any good or bad reviews or comments about their work. If the internet is not your thing, then perhaps a family member or friend more au fait with its workings can assist you.
- 3. If, after doing some research or being recommended to a solicitor, you find someone that you think might fit the bill, phone them. Advise them that you have been diagnosed with asbestos illness. Ask them some questions to find out whether they have the requisite experience.
Possible questions to ask may be along the lines of;
– How many asbestos disease cases do they have on-going? How many have they already successfully concluded during their career? If the answer is ‘none’ or ‘only one or two’, perhaps you might conclude that they do not have the requisite experience that you are looking for.
Ask how long they have been handling asbestos disease claims for? Ideally you are looking to appoint a solicitor with multiple years’ experience of working on asbestos claims.
– Find out from them, what proportion of their workload consists of just asbestos disease cases.
– Put to them some of the questions that you might have gleaned already from this blog are important such as – what happens if the company that you worked for no longer exists? If the company doesn’t exist anymore ie the company has ceased to trade, how will they go about pursuing your claim? If the company has ceased to trade, how will they find out who the insurers for the company were at the time (experienced asbestos compensation solicitors often have access to records that help them to find out much of this information).
– When you advise them that you have been diagnosed with an asbestos disease you will want to have a meeting with them. See if they offer to visit you at home or ask if they will visit you at home. Most specialist asbestos lawyers will be happy to do this and travel to wherever you are in the country at no cost to you.
– Ensure that if you call up a firm of solicitors that advertise their expertise in mesothelioma claims, asbestos lung cancer claims, pleural thickening claims or asbestosis claims, that you speak with one of the expert solicitors that will be taking on your claim, if you decide to instruct them. If they are not available, ask for them to call you back. See how quickly they call you back. If it takes them days to do so (without obvious good reason), perhaps you might conclude that this might be a sign that they would not deal with your claim with the efficiency and urgency that you would expect. Likewise if they channel answers to your questions through a secretary, then again you may be forgiven for believing that they do not feel that your case is of the utmost importance to them.
– When you do get to meet them or speak to them, try to gauge whether you feel that they are the type of person or firm that you will feel comfortable with. Once you have been diagnosed with an asbestos disease you are going to feel very vulnerable. You will need all the help that you can get. You may need to seek their assistance in obtaining asbestos disease related benefits. Sometimes you are going to feel frightened and anxious. Sadly if you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, in particular, the progression of the disease can be rapid. You need to have a solicitor acting for you that you feel able to call whenever the going gets really tough. Speak to them and then get them to come and see you. You’ll quickly get a sense of whether they have both the experience that is required and a genuinely empathetic approach to what you are going through.
– Find out from them how they will fund your claim. Most specialist asbestos disease solicitors will work for you under a No Win, No Fee agreement. In fact, those solicitors that regularly deal with asbestos disease compensation claims for their clients, will not even charge you a success fee once your claim has been successfully concluded (if this is the case, your solicitor will advise you in more detail what this means).
Asbestos diseases are serious matters. Sadly mesothelioma and asbestos lung cancer are often terminal illnesses. Other types of asbestos illness such as asbestosis and pleural thickening are at best likely to lead to a much diminished quality of life for the sufferer. If the asbestos disease has been caused as a result of an employer’s negligence, albeit long ago, then a claim for asbestos compensation is possible and amounts won can be significant. Considering the life changing circumstances these illness bring to the sufferer and their families, monetary compensation, whilst not being able to turn the clock back, can at least help alleviate some areas of the stress that inevitably descend on the lives of both asbestos disease sufferer and their family. So the choice of which asbestos disease solicitor to use becomes a highly important decision to have to make.
James Burrell and Leanne Keating of Bridge McFarland solicitors in Hull are both very experienced asbestos and mesothelioma compensation solicitors and both are highly regarded for their exceptional client care. They regularly travel all over the country visiting clients who have got asbestos disease. They are known for going the extra mile for their clients.
If you have recently been diagnosed with asbestos disease (or if you are worried that you might have asbestos disease symptoms) and are thinking of making a claim for compensation, call either James or Leanne for an informal chat and perhaps ask them some of the questions suggested in this article. There will be no obligation to use their services after your initial conversation with them.
James Burrell can be contacted on 01482 730326 or email jmb@bridgemcfarland.co.uk or Leanne Keating on 01482 320620 or lok@bridgemcfarland.co.uk
