Friday, November 20, 2009
The family of a railway worker in Oxford, United Kingdom whose death was tied to cancer caused by asbestos exposure received a payout of approximately £100,000.
In 2005, Dudley Maasz was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a disease resulting from exposure to asbestos. He had been exposed to the substance during his time in the 1940s as a railway worker for Great Western Railway, where he took part in cleaning engines and serving as a fireman. Maasz died in July 2006.
| We were able to establish that Mr Maasz death was caused by asbestos… | ||
The company BRB (Residuary) Ltd., the successor to British Railways Board, came to an agreement to give Maasz’s family a payout of £98,000 and costs as a settlement.
Brigitte Chandler, the Maasz family’s solicitor, told BBC News, “We were able to establish that Mr Maasz death was caused by asbestos during his employment at the Oxford works.”
| …he’d been eaten away, I felt so sorry for him. | ||
Dudley Maasz’s brother Norman described him to BBC News as outgoing, and a “friendly chap”. He said that he had noticed his brother begin to complain of shoulder pain approximately four years ago, and subsequently began to sleep more and later was bedridden a majority of the time.
“One day I looked at him and thought — my goodness — he was half the size, he’d been eaten away, I felt so sorry for him,” said Norman Maasz.
BBC News reported that no individual from BRB (Residuary) Ltd. was available to provide a comment about the payout to the Maasz family.