"I view the evidence of the medicos as strongly supportive of the plaintiff’s case. They are unanimous that there is a causative link between passive smoking and the plaintiff’s condition, at least as far as there is an asthma component. The bulk of them seem to accept that the plaintiff’s underlying condition is likely to be aggravated by the exposure to passive smoking. The bulk of them seem to accept that the degree and rate of acceleration of the plaintiff’s disease will be increased the greater the exposure to passive smoking. In my opinion, the plaintiff, whose longstanding pre-existing underlying condition was then not serious, suffered aggravation or acceleration of that condition between 26 February 1986 and 19 October 1997, which rendered his condition then and thereafter "serious" by reason of exposure during those years to passive smoking in the staffroom at Coomoora. The aggravation increased the rate of deleterious acceleration of his underlying chest condition over and above its rate of progression unaggravated. It had a serious effect on his capacity for physical activity. I think that the plaintiff’s exposure as an incident of his employment at Coomoora from August 1985, considering its degree and intensity, was a very significant factor in bringing forward his need for a double lung transplant by some five to ten years according to Professor Pain (T 89 and 90), and in reducing his life expectancy from 70 to 80% five-year survival to 50% two-year survival according to Professor Williams (T 17) (CB 34). There is no question that those consequences are both serious and long-term so far as the plaintiff’s lung functioning is concerned."