Widow sues over carpentry asbestos death

Wednesday 17 October 2018

A widow, who claims asbestos killed her ex-husband, is suing his former employer claiming that their carelessness ultimately brought about his fatal lung cancer.

In documents before the Royal Court, Vera Nisbet claims a lack of proper safety guidelines on buildings allegedly containing asbestos, caused her carpenter ex-husband, Walter Paterson Nisbet, to contract the mesothelioma that he eventually died from in 2014.

The Nisbets had been married, but were divorced when Mr Nisbet died, although they were living together. 

Nonetheless, Mrs Nisbet is bringing the legal proceedings against Mr Nisbet's former employer, Charles Le Quesne Ltd. and Aviva, the company that insured another of his employers, Thatcher Ltd, which has since closed down, as his partner.

At the centre of the dispute is whether asbestos was present on the sites that Mr Nisbet was working on and, if so, whether proper guidelines or safety training were in place to ensure workers didn’t breathe in any of the material’s harmful fibres.

Mrs Nisbet claims that, in his line of work, Mr Nisbet “would have breathed in dust released when screwing and drilling into the composite ceiling and wall cladding. When putting up ceiling panels and drilling them in to secure them, dust, likely including asbestos fibres, would be released and fall down onto the person drilling.”

Mrs Nisbet accuses her former husband’s former employers of negligence in that they failed to provide adequate safety equipment or training with regard to the management of asbestos.  

Pictured: The late Walter Nisbet was a carpenter and was employed by both Charles Le Queens and Thatcher's where his ex-wife says he was exposed to asbestos dust without the appropriate protective clothing or training.

However, in their response to Mrs Nisbet’s case against them, Charles Le Quesne argue that because the Nisbets were not still married by the time he died, Mrs Nisbet is not legally entitled to bring, nor benefit from, any legal action on her former husband’s behalf. 

In court documents, Charles Le Quesne, “...does not admit that [Mr Nisbet] was exposed to any asbestos in the course of his employment,” and also denies that Mr Nisbet died of mesothelioma. The company maintains that they are “highly reputable,” and that Mr Nisbet, “...was provided with all proper training, instruction and equipment,” when he was employed by them.

Arguing on behalf of the dissolved Thatcher’s, Aviva have so far responded similarly. They deny that Mr Nisbet was exposed to asbestos dust during his employment with Thatcher’s and that Mrs Nisbet has not provided sufficient evidence to prove that he was or, if he was, whether he was exposed whilst unprotected by the appropriate protection gear. 

They argue that Mrs Nisbet “is required to prove that [Mr Nisbet] was exposed to asbestos dust in the course of his work in circumstances where this posed a foreseeable risk of injury… which accordingly necessitated preventative action on the part of Thatcher.”

This is the second asbestos-related compensation claim to have been brought before the Royal Court in recent months. Back in August, the family of a former airport worker, who died of mesothelioma in 2014, started legal proceedings against the States of Jersey, Ports of Jersey and his insurance company.

The Nisbet case continues.