Government accepts liability to pay compensation to asbestos dockworkers

Following on from the recent High Court decision, the government has now accepted that it is liable to pay compensation to our clients who brought the recent successful test litigation and shall not be seeking to appeal further. 

The announcement comes after the recent High Court decision of Mr Justice Silber, who agreed with the claimant’s arguments that the government department, BERR (as successor to the National Dock Labour Board Scheme) were liable to pay compensation to our clients who are a former dockworker who developed asbestos disease and the widow of a former docker who died from the asbestos related cancer, mesothelioma.

Please click here to read our earlier article about the High Court decision.  The decision from the government also follows two other earlier court decisions about a preliminary issue, whether the government owed a duty of care or not to the dock workers.

It is anticipated that the court decision may help other dockworkers with asbestos disease/their families, to bring successful civil compensation claims if they worked under the National Dock Labour Board Scheme.

Neil Fisher, specialist asbestos solicitor who acted for the claimants said:

“I am pleased that the government has finally agreed to meet its responsibilities.  This has been a long and hard fought struggle on behalf of our clients and they will be pleased and relieved at this news.”

Notes

Mesothelioma is an asbestos-related cancer that affects the lining around the lungs (the pleura) and certain other organs such as the peritoneum. There is no cure for mesothelioma. Radical surgery is available to a limited number of eligible patients. The condition can be difficult to diagnose and patients generally survive less than 18 months from diagnosis. The only known cause of mesothelioma is asbestos. Mesothelioma often occurs 30 to 40 years after asbestos exposure, with no upper time limit. Although mesothelioma is an occupational disease, victims include teachers, nurses, doctors, shop workers and family members of people who have worked with asbestos.

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 asbestos disease sufferers and a prompt for reform.

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

Further information:
Neil Fisher, partner
John Pickering and Partners LLP
Old Exchange Buildings
St. Ann’s Passage
29/31 King Street
Manchester M2 6BE      
   
Telephone: 0161 834 1251
E-mail: nf@johnpickering.co.uk
Website: www.johnpickering.co.uk
FREEPHONE: 0800 854201
www.mesotheliomaadvice.co.uk

Contact us to find out more about your entitlement to claim compensation if you have been diagnosed with an asbestos related condition.

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