2023-11-07 08:26:15
The Dutch-speaking court of first instance in Brussels will deliver its judgment next month in the lawsuit brought by Éric Jonckheere, president of Abeva, the association of asbestos victims in Belgium, against the cement group Eternit.
Eric Jonckheere is suing the company, which produced construction materials containing asbestos until 1998, for willful misconduct. The plaintiff in fact believes that Eternit would be responsible for his pleural cancer. Eric Jonckheere is the fifth member of his family to be confronted with this disease. His father worked at the Eternit factory in Kapelle-op-den-Bos and lived nearby.
Five years ago, the appeals court upheld a 2012 ruling by the court of first instance, which ruled that the factory was responsible for the illness of his mother, Françoise Van Noorbeeck. Éric Jonckheere receives, like other patients, compensation from the Asbestos Fund, created in 2007, with the disadvantage that he cannot take legal action to claim additional compensation unless he can prove that there is “intentional foul“.
According to Éric Jonckheere and his lawyer, this is indeed the case regarding Eternit. “Large asbestos industries like Eternit have long been aware of the risks associated with asbestos“, say the plaintiffs.”Despite this, they exposed their employees and their loved ones to asbestos. They also ignored the harmful effects and postponed the use of substitute products for as long as possible. Eternit knew that such an attitude would inevitably have fatal consequences for a number of people and their families. Continuing the Eternit production model under these circumstances is a deliberate mistake.“
Eternit strongly contests the plaintiffs’ arguments.
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