In an Australian court this week, a man from Perth became the first auto mechanic in that country to win a successful negligence verdict against a car company for exposure to asbestos.

According to an article on Fox News Australia, Anthony Lo Presti, age 58, suffers from severe asbestosis and requires constant breathing assistance due to his years of work as an auto mechanic. Five years ago, he filed suit against Ford Motor Company of Australia in hopes of receiving compensation for his injuries. Yesterday, a judge awarded him $840,000.

Lo Presti’s lawyer, Michael Magazanik, proclaimed that the judgment pronounced in the Western Australian Supreme Court could potentially pave the way for lawsuits from thousands of other mechanics who suffer from asbestos-related diseases.

“This decision will set a precedent because it’s the first time a mechanic has succeeded against a car manufacturer in this country and there are literally thousands of mechanics who have been exposed to asbestos while working with brakes,” he said.

According to records, Lo Presti worked in the auto industry from 1970 to 1987, where it was his job to use compressed air to blow out the brake drums and to handle asbestos brake linings when brakes were serviced or changed. He worked for two Ford dealerships during his tenure as a mechanic.

“[My work] would generate large amounts of dust containing asbestos, which would blow up into my face and stick to my clothes and hair,” Mr. Lo Presti said in his witness statement to the court. “It would cause a cloud or haze in the air and fall down in the area where I was working.”

Lo Presti was diagnosed with asbestosis in 2001. Ford tried to argue that he did not have asbestosis but rather some other sort of pulmonary fibrosis. However, during the trial, Ford did admit that it knew by 1970 that “exposure to certain asbestos fibers could cause asbestos-related diseases” but denied it knew Mr. Lo Presti’s type of work could increase the risk of developing these diseases. Lo Presti claimed that while he worked for Ford, he was never told that there was asbestos in the brake linings nor was he informed of any health hazards connected with his job.

The presiding judge, Justice Andrew Beech, ruled that Ford ought to have known that, if no protective measures were taken, the asbestos fibers released from the brake linings could cause “life threatening injury.” He also stated that Ford owed its mechanics “a duty of care” and should have warned them of the dangers of working with the toxic material.

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