Knauer v Ministry of Justice
2014
QUEEN’S BENCH DIVISION
United Kingdom
CORAM
- MR JUSTICE BEAN
Areas of Law
- Tort Law
- Civil Procedure
2014
QUEEN’S BENCH DIVISION
United Kingdom
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
Between 1997 and 2007, Sally Knauer worked at Guy’s Marsh Prison, Dorset, where asbestos exposure led to her developing and dying from mesothelioma in 2009. Her widower claimed damages, and after liability was admitted in December 2013, the court awarded damages for pain, suffering, care costs, and various dependencies. The calculation of these awards was informed by judicial guidelines and existing legal precedents.
Judgment
Mr Justice Bean :
Between 1997 and 2007 Sally Knauer was employed as an administrator at Guy’s Marsh Prison, Shaftesbury, Dorset. The prison included many old buildings to which Mrs Knauer was required to go in the course of her job. Many of these buildings contained asbestos. As a result of exposure to asbestos at the prison Mrs Knauer contracted mesothelioma. She died on 28 August 2009 at the age of 46.
The claimant is her widower and the administrator of her estate. Mr and Mrs Knauer had three sons who at the date of their mother’s death were aged 22, 20 and 16 respectively.
Mr and Mrs Knauer were an old fashioned couple, in the sense that the division of labour in their household was as it might have been in the 1950s. Mrs Knauer managed the household. She cleaned, cooked, changed the beds, laundered and ironed clothes, did the shopping and walked the dogs. In addition she decorated the house when necessary, and tended to the garden. Mr Knauer did occasional tasks such as bathroom repairs but little more than that.
Mr Knauer’s career from 1977 (when he was 17) to 2007 was as a manager, latterly a business development manager for a company owning public houses. In 2007 Mr and Mrs Knauer, with the help of a business partner Richard Jones, bought two public houses in Dorset. They ran one and their eldest son ran the other. When they first moved in Mrs Knauer continued her job at the prison for a while, but once they were established she resigned from that employment and worked in the public house where they lived.
In March 2009 Mrs Knauer was diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma. She was told that she had only six months to live. The couple decided to sell the business so that they could move to a peaceful environment for what they knew would be their last months together. Mr Knauer’s business partner bought them out. They used the proceeds to buy a home and moved in there in May 2009. By this time Mr Knauer had given up his work to care for his wife.
Mesothelioma is a hideous and incurable disease causing appalling suffering. Mrs Knauer was no exception. In March 2009 she developed a hydro-pneumothorax and a chest drain was inserted. By the following months she had symptoms of breathlessness, pleuritic aching, loss of weight, loss of appetite and difficulty in breathing.
On 16 th June 2009 she underwent radical surgery consisting of incomplete left pleurectomy and lung decortication. She required admission to a hospice to try to control