The family of a deceased man exposed to asbestos while playing behind the notorious Wunderlich factory in Sunshine North as a child has been awarded close to half a million dollars in damages.
In the first verdict on an asbestosis legal claim in Victoria for a decade, the wife and immediate family of former Sunshine North resident Marian Ciopicz received $467,000.
A Victorian Supreme Court jury found on April 2 that the owner and operator of the former Wunderlich factory, Seltsam Pty Ltd, had negligently allowed Marian Copicz’s exposure to asbestos dust and fibres.
The father-of-three lost his two-year battle with the lung disease asbestosis in October last year.
Carolyn Ciopicz said her husband, 69, would be alive if it weren’t for the factory.
“Wunderlich let little children use its toxic dump as a playground. That is unbelievable. And so is the fact that they forced us to trial to get justice for Marian.”
Mr Ciopicz was exposed to asbestos from the ages of eight to 28, from the late 1950s to the early ’70s, the court heard.
In a signed statement made before his death, Mr Ciopicz described how he, his brother and friends would innocently play in the waste.
“We built cubby houses out of asbestos cement sheets,” he said. “Sometimes we dug tunnels through the waste, other times we dug trenches with boards we found lying around and then piled waste on top of the boards.
“We threw handfuls of waste at each other and they exploded on impact. When playing there it sometimes felt like we were in a snow storm. The air was full of white or gray dust.”
His family lived in Sandford Avenue, about 600 metres from the factory, and he walked past the McIntyre Road site on the way to school.
He later worked next door at the Taubmans paint factory where asbestos dust from Wunderlich would be blown in.
Slater and Gordon lawyer Michael Magazanik said the claim was strong, as the dangers of asbestos had been known since the 1890s.
“It’s disappointing the defendant didn’t say, ‘We stuffed up, we’re sorry, we should never have done that’. Hopefully the company has learned a lesson.”
“As well as the asbestos dump at the back, there was evidence that the factory was using a fan to blast waste asbestos dust into the air above the factory, which was then blown all over the place.
“The Wunderlich factory has … left a tragic legacy in Sunshine North. Seltsam can no longer avoid responsibility for its behaviour.”
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