Asbestos victims battle for compensation at Court of Appeal

Royal Courts of Justice, November 9-27

The financial future of hundreds of workers suffering from Mesothelioma hangs in the balance as the Court of Appeal next week prepares to hear attempts by insurers to avoid paying compensation.

The judges will hear the insurers’ appeal against the decision of the High Court Judge, Mr Justice Burton, who last year ruled that insurers should pay compensation to the victims of Mesothelioma and their families. [For copies of previous articles on this case click here].

Last year’s nine-week court battle – a test case -- preserved the workers’ right to compensation after insurance companies had argued that the policies sold to employers did not cover their workers exposed to asbestos.

The insurance companies appealed against the ruling and if they are successful in overturning the decision in the coming weeks, the workers and their families will find their compensation claims blocked.
  
Clitheroe widow, Joan Eddleston, lost her husband Arthur to Mesothelioma.  Despite winning her case for compensation, the Insurers refused to pay up, leaving Joan financially insecure in her retirement.

She said, “Insurance companies took money from companies and promised to cover their employees if they were injured at work.  I am saddened by yet another attempt by some insurance companies to avoid responsibility, despite having pocketed tens of thousands of pounds in premiums.”
                                             
Carolann Hepworth a partner at specialist law firm John Pickering and Partners LLP said, “The financial future is hanging in the balance for hundreds of mesothelioma victims and their families who could face the anguish of being unable to pay for care or provide financial security for their families.

The Court of Appeal has fixed three weeks in November to hear the insurers’ appeal.

=====================================================================
Contact with Joan Eddleston can be arranged through John Pickering and Partners LLP Telephone Carolann Hepworth,  Partner  on 0161 834 1251 or mobile 07775730348

Notes

John Pickering and Partners LLP- Specialist mesothelioma compensation solicitors

We are a specialist personal injury law firm.  We have been handling claims for industrial disease for over 30 years.  Most of our work involves acting for asbestos disease victims.

We only act for the sufferers of asbestos diseases and never act for the organisations that caused the asbestos exposure or their insurers.  We have an ethical approach and pledge to donate 10% of our net profits every year to good causes that help asbestos sufferers.  Click here to find out about our donations to good causes.  We have also been involved in most of the landmark judgments that shape this area of law.  Find out more about us or find out about our reported cases.  We are on the panels of several asbestos support groups and are ranked highly by legal guides.  Click here to find out more about what others have said about us.

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 mesothelioma and other asbestos disease sufferers and a prompt for important legal reform.

Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that affects the lining of certain bodily organs.  It most commonly affects the lining of the lungs (the pleura) but it can affect other areas including organs in the abdominal cavity (the peritoneum).

According to the British Lung Foundation, more than 2,000 people are diagnosed with mesothelioma every year in the UK and there is one mesothelioma death every five hours. The number of deaths from mesothelioma increased from 153 in 1968 to 1,969 in 2004 and is expected to peak at 2,450 between 2011 and 2015.

The British Lung Foundation, supported by John Pickering and Partners LLP, launched the first Action Mesothelioma Day on 27th February 2006, to raise awareness about mesothelioma, to improve the treatment and care of mesothelioma patients, and to lobby for better funding for research into mesothelioma and for the protection and edcation of people working with asbestos.

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

Has your asbestos solicitor told you you don’t have a case? Would you like a second opinion without obligation? 

Please ring freephone
0808 144 0959

John Pickering and Partners' Asbestos Brochure can be downloaded here (pdf)

If you are a solicitor who does not specialise in doing asbestos disease claims, please click here for further information, including details of our competitive referral fees.