Asbestos records & mixed injury whiplash

• The Court of Appeal considered whether defendants should have been aware of the dangers of low-level asbestos exposure in the 1950s.
• Clarity was provided by a Supreme Court ruling relating to the Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021 in mixed injury cases.

In March 2024, the appeal courts handed down two eagerly awaited judgments.

The first of these centred on whether defendants should owe a duty of care to those who develop respiratory disease from low-level asbestos exposure where the alleged tort occurred many decades in the past. While asbestos was known to be dangerous right from the start of the 20th century, there appears some uncertainty as to whether low-level exposure was harmful until just after 1960, when the link between this and mesothelioma (a terminal cancer of the lung lining) was discovered.

In White and others v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care; Cuthbert (executrix of