Victims of asbestos exposure: update

Hopes for fair and equal treatment for asbestos dust victims were raised on 19 October when Andrew Dismores' private members bill, The Damages (Asbestos Related Conditions) Bill, passed its first reading in the House of Lords after successfully navigating through the House of Commons. Ordinarily, it is a rare feat for any private members bill to survive its progress through the House of Commons stages.

At present, the law differentiates between victims exposed north of the border in Scotland to those in England. Following the disastrous House of Lords majority decision in Rothwell last year, which overturned decades of established practice, when their Lordships ruled that pleural plaques are no longer an actionable injury, the Scottish Parliament wasted no time in reversing that decision and its effect. Scottish victims suffering from pleural plaques can recover their entitlement to compensation from their former employers.

Unfortunately the Ministry of Justice has not been as robust in defending the rights of victims who live or work south of the border. This has led to an arbitrary post code lottery whereby victims south of the border, in England and Wales are still subject to the House of Lords ruling which denies them compensation; whereas those north of the border are not.

Bond Pearce has long championed the case for reversing the House of Lords' harsh ruling. Our consultation paper that we submitted in July 2008 can be viewed at the following link. We have also called for the creation of an employers' liability bureau, to speed up and simplify the process of tracing compensating insurers of negligent employers. This is necessary due to the long time it can take, usually several decades, before symptoms manifest themselves, often producing a fatal illness.

Mr Dismore has also submitted a second bill with proposals of his own for the creation of an employers' liability insurance bureau. The Employers Liability Insurance Bureau Bill is due to undergo its second reading in the House of Commons on 5 November.

Mr Andrew Stinchcombe, who specialises in pursuing asbestos related claims and who is an active campaigner on these issues, has called for the Government to support both of these bills and to ensure that the victims of industrial negligence are properly compensated in a timely manner.

To see more on the Bond Pearce campaign click here.

If you would like to seek expert legal advice relating to this case study or any other injury claim please complete the online enquiry form or call 0800 915 4650

This news section contains information of interest to our visitors from publicly available sources. Where we are linked to a story or are representing the person"s referred to we will say so. Where we do not represent individuals or bodies mentioned or quoted, the inclusion of the news story in our news section is not intended nor should it be taken to imply that we act for the individual or body concerned.