Mesothelioma patient dies while fighting for compensation
A mesothelioma victim lost her fight with the deadly cancer just hours after she was making headway with her compensation case. Mesothelioma sufferer Dianne Willmore, age 49, was awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages after convincing a High Court judge in July that she contracted mesothelioma while a student at a contaminated school in Huyton, UK. She claimed her cancer was caused by exposure to asbestos dust released during construction at the school, and from chipped tiles in school bathrooms.
Willmore was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a rare cancer caused by asbestos exposure, back in the spring of 2007. The cancer can lie dormant for decades, but when symptoms finally do emerge, the disease spreads rapidly. Most patients succumb to the disease within 24 months of being diagnosed.
The High Court ruling was appealed by the Knowsley Council, who were deemed responsible for Willmore’s illness. The council argued that it had not breached its duty of care and it was not “reasonably practicable” to assume responsibility for protecting her from asbestos. However, last Wednesday it appeared that Willmore was finally in a position to win her legal battle. Appeals Court Lord Justice Sedley backed the original court decision.
But within hours of Sedley’s ruling, Mrs. Willmore, a mother of two, succumbed to the cancer. Mrs. Willmore’s legal representative Ruth Davies, a partner of Liverpool-based John Pickering and Partners LLP, remembered her client as a “warm, compassionate, funny outdoor person who lived life to the fullest.”
