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Posts Tagged ‘asbestos compensation’

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New asbestos compensation complications

Asbestos-related disease victims face losing a quarter of their compensation to pay towards legal costs.

The Government’s Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, which is before Parliament, are aimed at reducing Government spending on the legal system.

It proposes to allocate 25 per cent of injury victims’ damages towards their legal cost; this will also include asbestos-related disease victims.

The daughter of an Armley asbestos victim June Hancock slammed the move as “outrageous”.

Rachel Reeves, Leeds West MP, whose constituency covers Armley where the JW Roberts’ factory spewed deadly asbestos dust over the community, is campaigning with Jamie Hanley, a Leeds lawyer.

A cross party group in the House of Lords also opposes the proposal.

June Hancock and her mother died of the incurable, asbestos-related lung cancer mesothelioma after living near the JW Roberts factory.

March 15, 2012 9:21 am - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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Asbestos victims denied compensation

A group of lawyers have claimed that hundreds of asbestosis sufferers across Britain are dying without proper compensation due to government inaction.

The not-for-profit-campaign group Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) show that mesothelioma, an asbestos related disease, was recorded as the underlying cause of 177 deaths in Scotland in 2010 compared with 147 death is 2006 and 140 in 2007.

Many victims of the deadly asbestos-related disease cannot claim compensation as they can no longer trace the employer who exposed them to it, insurance documents might also be lost or destroyed.

The government pledged to establish the “fund of last resort” in 2010, this fund would act as a safety net for those whom are unable to obtain compensation.

APIL president David Bott said:

“The government proposed to set up a fund of last resort shortly before the general election, but almost two years has now passed and nothing has been heard about it since. “

He went onto say:

March 8, 2012 9:29 am - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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Families of asbestos victims back “last resort” fund

Families of two men who died from an industrial disease have backed calls for a “last resort” fund.

Statistics published this week revealed that more people have died of an asbestos related cancer in Blackpool than in most other parts of the country.

These figures were releases by the Office for National Statistics, showing that, 31 residents died from mesothelioma between 2006 to the end of 2010.

That is the equivalent of 2.7 deaths in 100,000 people, 0.2 above the national average of 2.5 for the same period.

Two years ago the Government promised a “last resort” fund, this fund would be available for victims who cannot trace insurers.

David Jones, owner of The Henson Hotel on Clifton Drive, Blackpool, lost his dad, Albert, to mesothelioma last year.

He said; “I am surprised to hear Blackpool is above the national average, my dad was exposed to the substance as a barrel maker at the ICI in Salford and later in Scotland.”

February 28, 2012 9:10 am - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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Higher Asbestos payouts for the elderly

Following a landmark ruling on damages for pain and suffering, elderly victims of the asbestos-related disease, mesothelioma, could be entitled to a substantial amount of compensation.

Mrs. Justice Swift awarded 92 year-old Dennis Ball £50,000 compensation in the High Court last week. The compensation was given due to the pain and suffering he encountered after developing asbestos-related cancer, following his work for the National Coal Board and British Coal Corporation.

The compensation amount was higher than the figure of £35, 000 recommended by the Judicial Studies Board (JSB) guidelines.

In a written statement, Mrs. Swift said:

‘A person of any age who is informed that his or her life will be cut short by the effect of a harmful substance to which he or she has been wrongfully exposed is likely to suffer a good deal of distress.’

‘Even if a deceased’s death has in the event been relatively peaceful, he or she will have been fearful since being told of the diagnosis of mesothelioma that a painful and distressing end lies in store.’

February 16, 2012 8:43 am - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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Asbestos Payout

A former Wearside shipyard worker whom was killed by an asbestos-related illness has received compensation for his death.

It was the workers family whom fought for the compensation and has now won the claim.

80 year old, Ted Hall passed away months after his diagnosis; he was suffering from mesothelioma a cancer of the lining of the lungs which is caused by exposure to asbestos.

Mr Hall was exposed to the chemical as a 15-year-old apprentice and joiner while working at Hudson Dock and Pallion Yard on the Wear; he was never warned about the dangers of asbestos.

Father of two, Ted Hall, moved to Basingstoke on 1954 and then to Dartmouth with his wife Patricia in 2004, he was diagnosed with the illness in December 2010 and died 5 months later.

February 13, 2012 9:45 am - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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72 year old widow finally ‘claimed justice’

A widow, whose husband died from asbestos poisoning, has finally ‘claimed justice’, when her three year fight for compensation ended with her receiving a £200,000 pay-out.

Pamela Holliday has revealed her joy of winning the fight for her husband Ralph’s justice, after the company for which he worked initially refused to accept responsibility.

Whilst working at Tretol Limited factory, in Buckingham Avenue, Slough – between 1951 and 1954 Mr. Holliday was required to handle asbestos delivered to the factory in hessian sacks. After his death in June 2008 his wife took legal action against Tretol Group due to them initially claiming he never worked there.

In order to support her case, Mrs. Holliday tracked down a phone directory from the 1950’s in the Slough Library, proving her husband did work for the company.

She said: “I’m so pleased for my husband – that’s what he wanted me to do. It took his life – time that we should have been spending together. “That is why I kept on for so long – I wanted to get justice for him. I know he would be proud of me.”

December 13, 2011 9:43 am - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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Northern Ireland asbestos decision is welcomed by Unite but England and Wales’s asbestos victims still denied their compensation

On Monday the 5th of December Supreme Court judges were asked to end the uncertainty about whether people dying from mesothelioma, the asbestos related illness, and their families will be entitled to any compensation.

Unite, Britain’s biggest workplace union, made an appeal to the UK’s highest court after insurance companies were partly successful in a test case. The test case was done to determine whether insurers are liable to pay claims for the fatal asbestos illness, mesothelioma.

The court of appeal (CA) ruled in October last year that the high court was wrong in  2008 when it was decided that all insurers whom provided cover to the employer, at the time of asbestos exposure, should pay.

In the most recent survey by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), figures revealed that there were 2321 mesothelioma deaths and close to 400 of these deaths, were women.

December 7, 2011 9:35 am - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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Wilson ‘Overturns’ Lords Asbestos Ruling

People suffering from the asbestos-related lung condition pleural plaques – usually contracted in the building sector – will be able to seek compensation from next week due to new legislation.

The NI Finance Minister Sammy Wilson said the legislation to allow workers to pursue claims and noted that the Stormont Executive has already set aside £2.5m for claims.

The legislation reverses a House of Lords decision of 2007, which ruled victims could not claim compensation with Minister Wilson now saying that the Damages (Asbestos-related Conditions) Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 will come into operation on 14 December.

He confirmed that the purpose of the 2011 Act is to reverse the decision of the House of Lords in Johnston v NEI International Combustion Ltd and conjoined cases 2007. In that case, the Court had ruled out the possibility of a claim in negligence for asymptomatic asbestos-related pleural plaques.

The corresponding legislation in Scotland was the subject of a long-running challenge, which was initiated by insurers and which came before the UK Supreme Court. On 12 October 2011, the Supreme Court rejected the insurers’ claims that the legislation infringed their human rights and was outside the competence of the Scottish Parliament.

December 6, 2011 10:10 am - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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Asbestos victims launch court bid

Victims of asbestos-related cancer and their families are hoping that a Supreme Court case that is due to start will clarify a “complex” area of the law in their fight for damages.

Following a Court of Appeal ruling in October 2010 lawyers said many victims faced more “confusion and uncertainty” over who can be compensated and it was now a matter of “pot luck”.

Five Supreme Court justices, headed by the court’s president Lord Phillips, will now hear appeals arising out of six separate test case actions over eight days.

The proceedings will centre on the question of when liability is “triggered” – either at the time of exposure to asbestos or at the onset of symptoms.

Insurers won a partial victory in the 2010 Court of Appeal ruling which found that only some sufferers could recover damages for the injuries they sustained at work decades ago.

The three judges were unable to agree on a High Court ruling given in November 2008 – hailed as a victory for the victims – that employers’ insurers at the time of exposure were liable to pay out on claims for the fatal lung disease mesothelioma caused by exposure to lethal asbestos in the workplace.

10:04 am - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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Grandfather’s payout in BT asbestos claim

A RETIRED telecommunications engineer has been awarded a payout after contracting a deadly asbestos-related disease during a long working career in Torbay.

Grandfather Frederick Vincent, 76, from Torquay, has been given a five-figure sum by a judge sitting at the High Court in Bristol.

A judgement was made against Mr Vincent’s former employers, British Telecommunications Plc, for its part in allegedly negligently exposing its employee to asbestos dust.

Mr Vincent worked for the company for 30 years and was regularly exposed to the lethal fibres.

He was diagnosed with mesothelioma on his 50th wedding anniversary to wife Jean earlier this year.

He says he will use the money, an interim payment pending a final settlement, to improve his healthcare for the time he has left and make provisions for his family.

Mr Vincent started as a telegram boy for the Post Office in Torquay when he was 15 and then for BT as an installation engineer between 1962 to 1989 where he regularly came into contact with asbestos.

December 5, 2011 10:00 am - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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Gateshead Council wants asbestos payouts restored

VICTIMS of illness from asbestos have won the unanimous support of a Tyneside council.

Gateshead Council has voted to support the campaign of people with pleural plaques, a scarring of the lungs caused by asbestos.

People on Tyneside diagnosed with the disease since 2007 are entitled to nothing in compensation, while folk over the border in Scotland can claim thousands of pounds.

The motion to recognise the unfairness of the situation, and support the fight for change, was moved by Coun Paul Foy.

He told Gateshead councillors: “In Scotland the rights of people with pleural plaques are more important than the commercial interests of insurers.

“Meanwhile nothing has changed for sufferers in England. The failure of now successive governments to act leaves them isolated.”

November 29, 2011 9:16 am - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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Payout for former Crewe railway worker

A FORMER Crewe railway worker has received a ‘substantial payout’ after he developed fatal cancer mesothelioma while employed at the town’s locomotive works.

Former union official Dennis Jones, 82, has been compensated for the asbestos disease he developed while at Crewe Railway Works.

He is one of many railway workers from Crewe to be exposed to asbestos and the town has a high numbers of mesothelioma sufferers.

Mr Jones was first exposed to asbestos when he was just 16 years old and has now received an undisclosed sum after developing mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lungs.

Mr Jones was exposed to asbestos while working as an apprentice for Crewe Locomotive Works from 1945.

He went on to become a full-time union official for Amicus, now part of Unite the Union.

November 10, 2011 8:57 am - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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Compensation appeal to colleagues over carpenter’s asbestos death

The lawyer of a Teignmouth carpenter who died after allegedly being exposed to asbestos has appealed for his former colleagues to come forward in the fight to win compensation for his estate.

Richard Hooper died in October 2009 aged 63 from mesothelioma, a cancer caused by exposure to asbestos.

He had been diagnosed with the disease two months earlier.

Lawyer Lesley Mynett, who is acting on behalf of his estate, is hoping anyone who worked with Mr Hooper in the 1960s and early 1970s will be able to provide information as she continues his battle for compensation.

Miss Mynett is an industrial disease specialist with Fentons Solicitors LLP.

She said: “Richard worked throughout Devon and Cornwall as a carpenter, a vocation he trained in as an apprentice from leaving school.

“In 1963, aged 17, Richard began working for J H Hooper & Sons (no relation), a job he held until 1971.”

October 13, 2011 12:40 pm - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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