Stephen Glynn successful appeal at the First Tier Tribunal on Asbestos case

Stephen Glynn represented a widow before the First Tier Tribunal in what is thought to be the first appeal under the Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme.

He successfully argued that his client’s deceased wife was wrongfully exposed to asbestos when she worked as a tea lady in the canteen in the basement of the BBC’s Bush House in the mid 1960s when she walked past workmen removing lagging from overhead pipes. Her employer was listed by HMRC as Bush House Restaurants and the BBC denied employment hence there could be no civil claim for damages.

The administrator for the scheme argued that even if such exposure was to asbestos it (a) owed no duty and (b) even if it did the exposure was not at foreseeable harmful levels given the period of exposure. The tribunal judge disagreed and allowed the appeal.