Shipyard asbestos compensation claimants lose civil case

The heirs of a Malta Drydocks worker who contracted fatal lung cancer from exposure to asbestos were denied a compensation claim after a court cited lack of jurisdiction.

Salvatore Formosa, a fitter at Malta Drydocks, died in 1978 after contracting malignant mesothelioma, a cancer caused exclusively by exposure to asbestos. His heirs claimed that the health authorities, the ministry responsible for the drydocks, the Department of Industrial and Employment Relations and the Commissioner of Police had failed to provide adequate protection to workers handling the substance, in spite of the deadly link between asbestos exposure and cancer having long been known.

They said Formosa’s quality of life had been significantly and prematurely degraded and requested the court to declare that his right to life, his right to family life and his right to freedom from inhuman and degrading treatment had been violated.

The defendants rebutted the claims because Formosa’s death predated Malta’s 1987 adoption of the European Convention of Human Rights, and because no proof existed that Formosa’s cancer was a consequence of his exposure to asbestos.

The government argued that none of the Formosa heirs were legally entitled to file the case, as none of them was directly exposed to asbestos.

It also pointed out that the plaintiffs had not exhausted the ordinary remedies available to them before filing an extraordinary, constitutional action, rendering the process invalid.

Mr Justice Meli held that because the facts specified in the claim took place at a time that preceded the period covered by the articles of law upon which the claim is founded, the court could not make a ruling as it lacked jurisdiction.