ANTONINO Lo Presti had just been admitted to hospital on Christmas Eve when he learned he had finally won his landmark six-year asbestos compensation battle with the Ford Motor Company.
From his bed in Perth’s Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, the former mechanic found out Ford had dropped its appeal against the $840,000 payout he won in February.
The father of three had made legal history when the Supreme Court ruled he developed the asbestosis that now cripples him while he worked for Ford, and awarded him damages.
Mr Lo Presti, 59, who requires bottled oxygen 24 hours a day, inhaled asbestos while working for Ford between 1970 and 1987, servicing brakes that contained asbestos in the lining.
It was the first successful asbestos claim by a mechanic against a car company, opening the way for other similar victims.
But Ford appealed the Supreme Court’s decision, forcing a continuation of the litigation, which began in 2002.
Mr Lo Presti was rushed to hospital on Tuesday with a build-up of fluid on his lungs.
His wife, Connie, was critical of Ford’s timing in announcing it was abandoning the appeal on Christmas Eve.
She said they could have saved her husband and family a lot of stress by announcing it earlier.
“I thought they were pretty disgusting,” she said. “They could have done it better to relieve any heartache on the family and on him.
“I hope they come to the party on this and don’t let us stress any more than they already have.”
Mr Lo Presti began suffering the effects of the usually fatal lung disease in the late 1990s.
In his Supreme Court ruling, judge Andrew Beech said Ford should have known that, without protective measures, asbestos fibres released from the brake linings could have caused the disease.
Australian Asbestos Diseases Society president Robert Vojakovic, who has worked with Mr Lo Presti through the litigation process, said it had taken too long.
“Ford kept delaying, they kept frustrating. That should never happen again,” he said.
Perth