Compensation claims for asbestos disease sufferers are to become more difficult as a result of government reform.

Asbestos claims are complex. The victims of asbestos related diseases have to overcome many hurdles to obtain compensation. One major obstacle is tracing the employer liability insurers at the time when individuals worked for their employer who negligently exposed them to asbestos.

The Government has recognized that many asbestos victims and their families are unable to obtain compensation due to the difficulty in tracing insurance policies. It is often difficult to trace insurance policies that existed many years ago as many have been destroyed. Asbestos related diseases and other industrial diseases often come to light many years after exposure first took place. As a result, the employer is often no longer in business. Therefore, it is essential to trace the original insurers to obtain compensation. The Government introduced legislation to assist future victims in obtaining compensation. The Employers’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Regulations 1998 made it compulsory for employer liability insurance policies to be retained for forty years.

The Government now intends to revoke these regulations that were introduced to protect victims. The Government has said that by revoking these regulations it will reduce the “administrative burden” on employers. However, personal injury solicitors and asbestos victims’ groups say that the cost to businesses is small and compliance could be easily enforced through the establishment of a central database for policies.
Please see our earlier article which discusses this matter further and provides a link to the Government Consultation paper.  click here

Some backbench MPs are seeking to block these plans because they believe that repealing the legislation will prevent thousands of victims of asbestos-related diseases suing their employers for compensation. To access the Times newspaper article click here.

Solicitors who assist asbestos victims in pursuing damages for the illness have drafted a petition to lobby the government to change their decision to revoke this legislation. click here to access the petition

John Pickering and Partners LLP- Specialist asbestos solicitors

John Pickering and Partners LLP is a niche legal practice that has represented Claimants in the leading asbestos "test cases" in the last ten years. The firm represented Sylvia Barker in Barker v Corus (UK) Plc, a case that highlighted the legal tactics of employers and insurers trying to cut back their compensation liabilities to mesothelioma sufferers, and which prompted the amendment of the Compensation Act 2006 to ensure full compensation for mesothelioma claims. The firm represented two of the three Claimants in the Fairchild appeal, in which the insurance industry tried unsuccessfully to block compensation altogether for mesothelioma sufferers unable to identify which of two or more sources of asbestos exposure had caused their illness.

The firm represented Alice Jefferson, a mesothelioma sufferer, whose illness and compensation claim against Cape Asbestos were featured in the important documentary "Alice: A Fight For Life."   Shown by Yorkshire Television in July 1982, the programme was an important catalyst for legal change and public awareness of the plight of the victims of asbestos.

If you need advice about an asbestos related illness, contact us now for information about making a claim for compensation.

This article was prepared by:-
Colette Jennings
John Pickering and Partners LLP
19 Castle Street
Liverpool L2 4SX