Mesothelioma Litigation

The family of a former employee at the Proserpine Sugar Mill in Australia who died of an asbestos-related disease in 2009 has been awarded compensation for the man's death, the Mackay Daily Mercury reports.

According to the news source, Andrew Fraser worked on a demolition team at the mill for approximately six months in the early 1980s. Only six months after he was diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma, Fraser died at the age of 53 in August 2009.

The Queensland Industrial Magistrate's Court found that because Fraser's death was directly attributable to his work at the mill, WorkCover Queensland was responsible for compensating his family, even though he may have been exposed to asbestos during other jobs as well.

"This ruling should make WorkCover Queensland appreciate that even relatively short periods of exposure to asbestos in the workplace, provided those periods are within an acceptable latency period, can cause mesothelioma," an asbestos attorney for the family told the news source.

In addition to malignant mesothelioma, asbestos exposure has been proven to cause lung cancer and asbestosis.