Workers lose fight for asbestos compensation
By admin on Oct 18, 2007 in Hazardous Waste, Business Waste, Featured, News
A long-running battle by sufferers of an asbestos-related disease reached a climax yesterday, with the House of Lords ruling that sufferers of pleural plaques are not entitled to compensation. The decision removes an established right to compensation which had existed for 20 years, and could save insurers up to £1.4 billion.
Pleural plaques is a symptomless condition, but one which often leads to diseases such as asbestosis or mesothelioma. The decision has been attacked by trades union leaders, but Lord Justice Hoffmann said that in any claim of negligence proof of damage was an essential element.
It was agreed that the five men who brought the case had been negligently exposed to asbestos fibres which had resulted in a thickening of the pleural membrane surrounding the lungs. However, although the men had suffered from the anxiety of knowing that asbestos fibres in their lungs could lead to life-threatening diseases, none of the men has suffered any actual physical symptoms. Lord Hope of Craighead said:
“But they have not yet sustained an injury for which the law can give them a remedy in damages…..It is the limits of this, most basic, principle of the law of negligence that are under scrutiny in these appeals.”
Lord Hope said that to rule otherwise would mean that the smallest cut or the lightest bruise might give rise to litigation, with the costs involved being out of all proportion to what was in issue.
It was however made clear that people who suffered from asbestosis, mesothelioma and other asbestos-related conditions as a result of employer negligence would continue to be entitled to compensation.
