How are court awards worked out?

Court awards or settlements for mesothelioma are broken down into the headings below, and the totals are then added up.

1. Compensation for pain and suffering: £50,000 - £80,000.

2. Interest on this at 2% from the date court proceedings are sent to your opponents. So it is important to begin court action quickly.

3. Loss of earnings: someone with mesothelioma will usually have to give up work.

Assume this is a man. He is entitled to his loss of earnings (or income if he is self- employed). He has to give credit for tax he would have had to pay. If he would have been promoted or would have earned more for other reasons, this is taken into account. He will be awarded his full loss of earnings while he is likely to remain alive.

After the date at which he dies or is likely to die of mesothelioma, he will be entitled to a percentage of the earnings he would have had if he had not developed the disease. He is usually entitled to 50% of his income until his normal retirement age. The number of years is reduced slightly because he gets all the money up front. He will also be entitled to 50% of his likely pension after retirement.

For example, if someone earns £20,000 a year after tax and national insurance, and is likely to die of mesothelioma at the age of 50, and he would normally have worked to 65, he is entitled to 50% of £20,000 x 12 years (because he is getting the money up front). So he is awarded £10,000 x 12 years, which is £120,000.

If, after 65, he would have received a pension of £10,000 a year, he will probably be awarded 50% of this for another 9.5 years, which adds £47,500.

This is what he would be awarded if he concludes his compensation case in his lifetime.

If the claim is not completed while the man is alive, or is only started after he dies, the compensation is worked out differently.

Assuming he has a wife, and no dependant children, and his wife has an income of £5000 net a year, then her claim is worked out by adding his net income to hers (£20,000 + £5000 = £25,000) and calculating two thirds of this (two thirds of £25,000 is £16,665) and then subtracting her income from this total (£16,665 less £5,000 is £11,665). So she is entitled to £11,665 x 12 years, which is £139,980.

If his pension would have been £10,000 a year and her pension would be £5,000 a year, then she will also probably be awarded £4,999 a year for 9.5 years, which adds £47,490.

4. Interest is paid on wages and income already lost by the time the case gets to court at 3% from the date the loss started to be suffered.

5. Someone with mesothelioma will not be able to do work in the house and garden, which he or she normally did. The value of this work is compensated as well.

6. Someone with mesothelioma will need to be looked after by their family. The value of this care is compensated, even though it is not paid for. Someone with mesothelioma usually needs 1,100 to 2,000 hours care over 6 months, or more. It is possible to hire a nurse from an agency. Most people either do not have the money to do this, or prefer to be cared for by their own family. A qualified nurse or care assistant will cost more than £10 an hour. Compensation for the value of care provided by the family is usually between £10,000 to £15,000.

7. Someone with mesothelioma can often benefit from having a stair lift, an adapted shower or bathroom, an adjustable bed, an electric wheelchair or scooter. Sometimes ground floor accommodation is needed. Taxi fares, additional transport costs, and additional heating costs can be claimed.

8. You are entitled to the cost of private medical care. However, most people with mesothelioma will be cared for primarily by the NHS.

9. If someone dies of mesothelioma, his spouse is entitled to a fixed sum of £11,800, called "bereavement" on top of these other types of compensation.

10. If someone dies of mesothelioma, the cost of the funeral is part of the claim.

All these different heads of compensation are added together to make up the full court award or negotiated settlement.

You have to give credit for any money paid to you under the 1979 Act.

You have to give credit for certain types of state benefit.

You do not have to repay either.

Your legal charges are paid on top of the compensation you receive.

It is always worthwhile having a mesothelioma compensation claim investigated.

Turner & Newall's factory, Spodden, Rochdale. T&N went into bankruptcy in October 2001 because of the number of American claims made against it. It had been bought by an American company,. Federal Mogul, in 1997. A Trust has now been set up to compensate its asbestos disease victims. See "Asbestos News".

Photograph, Jason Addy