Dust on the Streets and Liability for Environmental Cancers

Abstract

In Margereson v J. W. Roberts Ltd and Hancock v J. W. Roberts Ltd,' the Court of Appeal was faced for the first time with the task of delineating the liability of a manufacturing company for environmental cancers caused by emissions from their plant. Both plaintiffs2 had lived near the former J.W. Roberts asbestos factory in Armley, Leeds, and had contracted the fatal cancer mesothelioma, the only known cause of which is exposure to asbestos. The J.W. Roberts factory, which closed in 1958, was part of the manufacturing empire of Turner & Newall Ltd (now T&N plc, the effective defendants). The incidence of asbestos-related disease was originally confined to the asbestos textile industry,3 the so-called first wave4 of asbestos-related disease, but as asbestos found more and more industrial applications, so other occupational groups5 (the second wave) began to experience the toll of death and disease. Such cases have generated a substantial number of compensation claims in tort by injured workers and their dependants.6 The Margereson and Hancock cases are unique in that they are the first examples of the third wave of environmental asbestos cases to reach the English courts.7 In the event, the Court of Appeal dismissed the defendant company's appeals from a finding of liability. In doing so, the Court interpreted Holland J's decision at