Dying Australian Inventor Wins Record Asbestos Payout
February 5th, 2007
A 58-year-old Australian man has been awarded the largest asbestos disease-related payout in the history of his country.
Tim Lacone, who claims he contracted mesothelioma after using asbestos sheeting to build a fernery and glasshouse at his property at Gruyere, east of Melbourne, between 1967 and 1974, was a budding inventor who had developed a prototype for a water-saving swimming pool filter, with an earning potential of tens of millions of dollars, when he was diagnosed last August, his lawyers claim. His suit was based on the fact that the disease has kept him from realizing the financial earnings prompted by his invention.
According to articles in several Australian newspapers, Lacone settled out of court late last week in the amount of $2.75 million in his suit against Amaca Ltd, formerly James Hardie, and Seltsam Ltd, formerly Wunderlich.
Lacone was delighted with the settlement. He says he’ll use the money to pay back friends and relatives who helped with his invention and he’ll contribute much to an asbestos disease fund that supports other victims. However, Lacone didn’t have many kind words for the asbestos manufacturers.
“James Hardie is a gutless, cowardly company that ran away from this country like a hit-and-run driver who ran away from maybe your loved one and left them dying a hideous death in the gutter,” Mr. Lacone said of the company whose products have left many Australians suffering from asbestos-related diseases.
According to the newspaper account, Lacone struggled visibly on the witness stand. His lawyer, Jack Rush, told the Victorian Supreme Court that his client’s terminal disease is “extremely painful, distressing and debilitating” and he would die “sooner rather than later”.
