Grieves v FT Everard & Sons and another and other appeals

In re Pleural Plaques Litigation [2006] All ER (D) 187 (Jan)

These appeals related to test cases in which each of the claimants had been negligently exposed by his defendant employer to asbestos dust. The exposure had had three foreseeable consequences. First, the claimant had developed pleural plaques; second, the claimant was at risk of developing one or more long-term asbestos-related diseases and; third, the claimant had suffered anxiety at the prospect that he might suffer such disease. It was accepted that none of these consequences on its own would constitute damage capable of founding a cause of action in negligence. The judge had held that by aggregating pleural plaques with one or both of the other consequences, sufficient damage could be demonstrated to found a cause of action.