The appeal court's reversal of an £82,000 asbestos award to the wife of a shipyard worker has raised questions about secondary exposure liability.
In April 2004, the award was made to Teresa Maguire, the wife of James Maguire, who worked in a ship repair yard owned by Harland & Wolff in Liverpool in the 1960s.
Mrs Maguire was diagnosed as having mesothelioma in 2000. She died of the lung-disease in May 2004.
In the original case her lawyers successfully argued against Harland & Wolff on the basis of "familial" exposure.
Mrs. Maguire had washed her husband's dust-laden work clothes, her husband explained that he wore his work clothes home because the shipyard had no place to wash or change.
But London's Court of Appeal turned the decision over on Friday, casting doubt on the extent of secondary liability exposure.
