Veteran Wins Legal Case Against Government Over Chemical Exposure Illness

The toxic industrial solvent would crack his green rubber gloves and burn his skin. Caesar said his hands would be burning and he had to remove the gloves quickly and scrub himself in a deluge bath. The fumes left him dizzy and struggling to breathe, requiring him to leave the room several times a day.

In late 2022 the then 78-year-old experienced agonising pain under his rib cage and increasing shortness of breath. Two years later he was diagnosed with pulmonary veno-occlusive disease, a rare and terminal form of pulmonary arterial hypertension that blocks small lung veins and leads to progressive right heart failure.

Medical evidence from doctors on both sides of the legal case established that exposure to trichloroethylene caused his condition. In March this year Caesar won a legal battle against the federal government after the government offered significant financial compensation the day before the case was scheduled to go to trial in the Victorian Supreme Court.

The government’s legal team had contested the negligence claim for almost 18 months. A bid to expedite the case was initially opposed even though Caesar had been given less than two years to live.

Trichloroethylene is a human carcinogen linked to liver and kidney cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and a 500 per cent increased risk of Parkinson’s disease. It is now banned or strictly regulated in Australia, the United States and many other countries.

Australia’s Department of Veterans’ Affairs formally recognised exposure to the solvent as a cause of Parkinson’s in 2016. Warning signs of its toxicity had been known since the 1920s and safer alternatives existed by the 1950s. Caesar said he raised concerns at the time.

He was told it was standing orders because improper cleaning risked oil contamination that could cause an aircraft to explode under oxygen pressure.

Melbourne respiratory and sleep physician Dr Shaun Yo diagnosed Caesar with the condition at The Alfred hospital and traced it to his air force exposure. The physician noted the disease affects fewer than one person per million globally and that Caesar’s age and gender were atypical for pulmonary arterial hypertension, which mainly affects younger women.

Lawyer James Marsden-Smith, who represented Caesar, said the tactics used by the government’s legal team were designed to make the case as difficult as possible. An offer of compensation came after 18 months, with the government conceding the link between trichloroethylene exposure and Caesar’s illness.

The case is the first of its kind brought against the Commonwealth. Marsden-Smith said there are tens of thousands of servicemen and women who were exposed to trichloroethylene and other dangerous chemicals during their service. Caesar’s life has changed since the diagnosis.

The Bundaberg father of two can now barely walk 100 metres without gasping for breath. He previously ran a rock ‘n’ roll dance school and travelled Australia in a motorhome. He has watched friends who worked on the F-111 fighter jet deseal-reseal program in the 1970s and 1980s die from cancers after similar chemical exposure.

Caesar said the outcome was about principle and accountability for decisions made decades ago. An Australian Department of Defence spokesman said the government could not comment on individual matters for privacy reasons.