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Posts Tagged ‘asbestos compensation’

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MPs blasted for blocking moves to let asbestos victims keep all of their compensation money

Asbestos HazardLocal MPs have been criticised by campaigners for voting against a bid to stop asbestos victims losing some of their compensation in legal fees.

Peers in the House of Lords have however given mesothelioma sufferers some fresh hope by insisting that patients are exempted from handling over up to 25% of any compensation to pay their solicitors.

The issue has come up as part of wide-ranging reforms of the country’s legal system.

The Government’s Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders’ Bill aims to save £350 million a year and speed up legal proceedings.

However, mesothelioma victims stand to lose out, under the changes planned by ministers, because of a change in who pays their solicitors.

An amendment to the Bill, one of many proposed by the House of Lords, was aimed at stopping these changes but, it was overturned in the Commons by 292 votes to 256.

Derby North Labour MP Chris Williamson voted for the amendment but Conservatives Andrew Griffiths (Burton), Jessica Lee (Erewash), Patrick McLoughlin (Derbyshire Dales), Nigel Mills (Amber Valley) and Heather Wheeler (South Derbyshire) voted against it.

Mr Williamson said it was “completely wrong” the way some MPs had voted.

April 25, 2012 8:32 am - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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Electrician faced with asbestos ’snowstorm’ in power station job

A RETIRED electrician died as a result of being repeatedly placed at the centre of an asbestos “snowstorm” during his working life.

Grandfather-of-two Ian Stanford lost his fight against pneumonia at the age of 76.

An inquest heard he worked at Willington Power Station between 1959 and 1993 and looked after all electrical aspects of the plant, including shutting down boilers and turbines for maintenance.

The once-yearly task involved him removing lagging and asbestos material surrounding the equipment.

A report by pathologist Dr Andrew Hitchcock said the nature of the work led to Mr Stanford’s death on February 11, at Royal Derby Hospital.

In a statement, Mr Stanford had said the task left him in an asbestos “snowstorm” that turned the room into a “fog”.

He wrote: “During this period there would be a huge amount of asbestos dust floating around.

April 23, 2012 8:12 am - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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Asbestos legal claim goes up to House of Lords

THE widow of an ex-headteacher who died from asbestos exposure is urging the House of Lords to stand fast after the Government refused to exempt victims from legal costs.

Marie Hughes watched husband Phil die from cancer after coming into contact with asbestos at Brymbo Steelworks in his younger years.

The Government voted against some amendments to its controversial Legal Aid bill to exempt asbestos victims paying the costs, despite rebel Tories and Lib Dems voting the other way last week.

It will again come before the House of Lords tonight for further debate and could be sent back to the Commons if the peers are not satisfied.

Mr Hughes was a former of headteacher of Tanyfron School, near Wrexham, and died, aged 57, in 2005.

Mrs Hughes, of Coed-y Glyn, Wrexham, said if they’d had to worry about the financial implications of trying to press for a claim without legal aid, they might not have bothered.

“I was very disappointed the bill went through in the Government vote on Monday,” she said. “But I did take heart that there were Liberal Democrat and Conservative MPs who could not vote with the Government.

“It is now going back to the House of Lords and I would urge them not to pass this through, back what they backed, and send it back to the House of Commons where hopefully more will reject it.”

8:10 am - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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Thousands Of Terminally Ill Workers Will Die Before Receiving Compensation

Thousands of terminally ill workers will die before getting the compensation they deserve because of delays to a new law aimed at addressing the problem, a legal expert has said.

The “disgraceful” wait for the legislation being implemented, which will see insurance companies benefit while victims suffer, has been blamed on a lack of funds by the Ministry of Justice.

In 2010 the law was changed to make it easier for ex-employees to sue for damages but it has not been brought into force, and a report says it will not come into effect until next year at the earliest.

Almost 5,000 people a year die from asbestos-related diseases and compensation expert Chris Shaw, a Newcastle-based solicitor, said: “It’s disgraceful because they are terminally sick and they need that money.

“Insurance companies are the only ones profiting from the delay.”

The Third Party (Rights Against Insurers) Act was passed in 2010 to make it easier for claimants to sue if their former employers have gone out of business.

April 17, 2012 10:02 am - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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Many Barking and Dagenham victims lose out on asbestos case victory

Families of people who contracted asbestos-related cancers may have won their long fight for compensation but there are fears that some sufferers of a related disease may never even have the chance to claim.

Last week the Supreme Court ruled that insurance liability was triggered when employees were exposed to asbestos as opposed to when symptoms occurred.

But Jimmy Parish, president of the Dagenham GMB laggers branch, said those who have suffered from pleural plaques – an asbestos-related illness – may not benefit.

He said: “If you are diagnosed with pleural plagues, you may never get a chance to make a claim anything until you’re dead.

“I come from a family where all my uncles and my dad died of asbestosis. I’m one of many.”

In 2007, the House of Lords ruled that people who had been exposed to asbestos could no longer claim compensation for pleural plaques, often a precursor for mesothelioma or asbestosis.

However, by the time the more serious conditions appear, it is often too late to benefit from any claim.

10:00 am - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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Wrexham wife’s asbestos legal fee plea to Government

A WIFE who lost her husband to asbestos poisoning urged the Government to exempt victims from paying legal costs ahead of a crucial vote.

Marie Hughes watched her husband Phil die a tragic and debilitating death of cancer after coming into contact with the toxic substance at Brymbo Steelworks in his younger years.

Mr Hughes was a former of headteacher of Tanyfron School, near Wrexham, and died at the age of 57 in 2005.

Tomorrow the Government will go through a series of votes on amendments to its controversial Legal Aid Bill which is looking to save millions of pounds.

Part of the legislation, which is being resisted by a proposed amendment, is to make victims of asbestos mesothelioma pay for any legal aid through damages received.

Mrs Hughes, of Coed-y-Glyn, Wrexham, said: “He underwent gruelling, unrelenting and debilitating courses of chemotherapy, intensive radiotherapy and invasive surgery in the form of an EPP (extra pleural pneumonectomy) which involves the removal of a complete lung, half the pericardium and half the diaphragm.

“He lived in constant pain.ŠAll this was a vain attempt to improve the quality and to extend his life.

“The court hearing was pending during the time of my husband’s major surgery.”

April 16, 2012 9:56 am - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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British Safety Council Welcomes Supreme Court’s Ruling Rejecting Insurers’ Appeal Concerning Liability For Asbestos Exposure

The Supreme Court in its judgment ruled, “for the purposes of employer liability policies, the negligent exposure of an employee to asbestos during the policy period has a sufficient causal link with subsequently arising mesothelioma to trigger the insurer’s obligations to indemnify the employer.”

Neal Stone, director of policy and communications at the British Safety Council, said: “This is a very important judgment in favour of sensible health and safety and will be welcomed by thousands of workers exposed to asbestos in the course of their work, their employers and others committed to preventing the deadly consequences of work-related diseases.”

The Supreme Court in a judgment published on 28 March 2012 upheld appeals from Unite the union, employers and others concerning the liability of insurers to employers where their employees have contracted mesothelioma following exposure to asbestos.

One of the issues on which the appeal was made to the Supreme Court was when mesothelioma was “sustained” or “contracted” – when the employee was wrongfully exposed to asbestos or when the disease actually occurs in the employee. Trade unions argued that had it not been for the Supreme Court ruling many thousands of workers exposed to mesothelioma with fatal consequences would not be compensated for the loss they, or their families, had suffered.

April 11, 2012 1:10 pm - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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Asbestos ruling ‘will not open floodgates’

A leading trade union lawyer has dismissed expectations that a Supreme Court ruling will prompt a rush of asbestos-related litigation. The ‘trigger case’ judgment last week ruled in favour of allowing insurance claims by families of people who died after exposure to asbestos.

Following the ruling, the trade union Unite suggested that ‘thousands’ of cases would be launched now the insurers’ ‘responsibility holiday’ was over.

But Ian McFall, head of asbestos policy at national trade union firm Thompsons, said obstacles preventing meritorious claims for diseases such as mesothelioma were still in place. ‘Any talk of floodgates opening is ill-informed nonsense,’ said McFall. The judgment merely ‘restores the status quo’, he said.

McFall said changes to the no win, no fee system and abolishing the recoverability of after-the-event insurance – which covers medical tests and tracking down insurers – meant cases were still difficult to launch.

The cost of tracking down beneficiaries of decades-old policies is also blocking hundreds of cases, he said. It is almost two years since a government consultation recommended setting up a ‘fund of last resort’, funded by insurers, but there is still no sign of progress from the Department for Work and Pensions.

April 5, 2012 8:37 am - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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Court ruling brings hope for claimants in asbestos-related deaths

The families of people who died after exposure to asbestos could be able make insurance claims following a High Court ruling this week.

The UK Supreme Court has now placed insurance liability at the time an employee was exposed to asbestos, not when symptoms appeared.

Relatives of workers who died of the cancer mesothelioma want to make claims on policies dating from the 1940s.

There have been many mesothelioma inquests in Eastbourne over the years, as pensioners move from industrial locations and retire to the coast.

The cancer takes decades to develop so many retired people die in Eastbourne from the condition after working with the fatal substance when they were much younger.

Earlier this month, the Herald reported that Ratton teacher Neville Beck had died at the age of 71 from a mesothelioma.

His widow Susan Beck says her husband died from breathing in the asbestos dust on history books and she has launched a legal battle to sue Ratton School for £250,000.

April 2, 2012 8:14 am - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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My payout victory’s a dream come true

A GRANDAD dying from asbestos poisoning described as “all my dreams come true” a court ruling that should see his family receive a major compensation payout.

Former roofer David Mahoney, 52, was exposed to asbestos while building the former British Home Stores building in Colchester.

Mr Mahoney, of Scarfe Way, Colchester, was later diagnosed with lung cancer, mesothelioma. His insurance firm claimed because it was not covering him when he was diagnosed in October 2009 he was not entitled to compensation.

But this week the Supreme Court ruled liability was “triggered’’ when employees were exposed to asbestos dust, not when symptoms of mesothelioma emerged.

Solicitors said the ruling meant victims were covered by policies in place when asbestos fibres were inhaled and insurers would have to meet compensation claims.

Mr Mahoney said: “It’s all my dreams come true. As soon as we got the decision, I could feel the weight coming off.

“I didn’t think, deep down, we would get the verdict, even though everyone told me we’d get it.”

8:10 am - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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Court to rule on asbestos claims

A Supreme Court ruling could affect thousands of compensation claims by people whose relatives died after developing an asbestos-related cancer, lawyers say.

Mesothelioma victims’ families asked the UK’s highest court to clarify the law relating to insurance claims at a hearing in London in December.

Five Supreme Court justices, who were asked to consider whether liability was “triggered” at the time of exposure to asbestos or at the onset of symptoms, will deliver judgment in London.

Relatives of workers who died from mesothelioma – after inhaling asbestos fibres during their employment – want to make claims on insurance policies covering periods from the late 1940s to the late 1990s.

Judges, headed by Supreme Court president Lord Phillips, heard appeals arising out of six separate test cases.

Specialist solicitor Helen Ashton, who works for law firm Irwin Mitchell, who is representing one of the lead claimants, said she hoped the Supreme Court could “provide clarity”.

March 28, 2012 8:16 am - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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Widow’s plea to help explain husband’s industrial asbestos death

The widow of a community stalwart who died from asbestos exposure days before their golden wedding anniversary has launched a legal fight for justice.

Devoted father-of-two and grandfather-of-eight Thomas Flower, of Wantage Road, Carrville, near Durham City, spent countless hours coaching boys’ football teams and led a residents’ campaign against the expansion of Ramside Hall Hotel onto greenbelt land.

Mr Flower died in October last year, aged 74, from asbestosis, following a four-year battle with illness.

An inquest into his death, held last week, concluded that he died as a result of industrial disease.

Now his widow, Jean, 71, is appealing to Mr Flower’s former colleagues to come forward and shed light on conditions in his former workplaces.

Mrs Flower said: “Thomas and I met in our early 20s and had been together for 50 years.

To lose my soul mate just a week before our golden wedding anniversary was almost too much to bear.

March 27, 2012 8:05 am - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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Families win landmark ruling on £600m asbestos compensation

Thousands of families whose relatives were killed by asbestos cancers will win a landmark compensation victory this week, sources have told The Independent on Sunday. The Supreme Court will rule on Wednesday that insurers who offered cover at the time victims inhaled the deadly fibres will have to pay compensation.

Four insurance companies have been fighting to minimise payouts to 6,000 families who have a member who has died or is suffering from mesothelioma, a cancer resulting from exposure to asbestos. Once the court rules against the insurers, the compensation bill could be in excess of £600m. If you include future claims that will be brought, up to 25,000 families could be affected by the ruling, pushing the potential bill to £5bn.

The Independent on Sunday has been campaigning since 2009 for insurance companies to pay out to victims whose firms they supposedly covered when they were negligently exposed to asbestos dust.

The test case, which has gone to the High Court and the Court of Appeal, has been running since 2006 and is one of the most protracted in legal history. Most of the cancer patients affected by its ruling have now died, and it is their relatives who have been waiting on the result.

Asbestos exposure is the biggest killer in the British workplace, causing more than 4,000 deaths every year – more than road traffic accidents. The fibres can be in a person’s lungs for half a century before causing cancer, so that deaths in the UK are not expected to peak until 2016.

It has been known that asbestos dust caused fatal lung cancers since 1955, and its “evil effects” were observed in factories as early as 1898. Because of this, employers – or if they no longer exist, their insurers – are liable to compensate those needlessly killed by it.

March 26, 2012 8:01 am - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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