Call for Gordon Brown to Intervene with the Scrapping of Pleural Plaques Compensation Claims

With the recent announcement that Prime Minister Gordon Brown has entered into talks with fellow MP’s over the Law Lords decision to scrap compensation for people diagnosed with pleural plaques after being negligently exposed to asbestos at work, Camps Solicitors (www.camplaw.co.uk) has taken a look at one of the most hotly debated issues in civil litigation at the moment.

Plueral plaques are a scarring of the lungs caused by exposure to asbestos particles. These same asbestos particles are also responsible for the killer diseases asbestosis and mesothelioma. Before the Law Lords highly controversial ruling, people exposed to asbestos fibres and who went on to develop the plaques were entitled to compensation in much the same way as sufferers of the more serious asbestos related diseases.

However the unanimous ruling from the Law Lords last October saw sufferers of pleural plaques lose the chance to claim compensation for their work-related disease. Worse still, in cases where pleural plaques are diagnosed, under the old system the sufferer would get additional compensation if they went on to develop mesothelioma or asbestosis, but under the new system most people in this situation will succumb to the disease before seeing their compensation.

Call for Gordon Brown to intervene

Several MP’s as well as trade union groups have called for Gordon Brown to intervene and reconsider the move to scrap compensation. In response to questions raised in the House of Commons by MP’s earlier this year, Mr Brown said:

“I am grateful to my honourable friend for raising the House of Lords judgement, which now has to be answered. Asbestosis and mesothelioma are terrible diseases, and all of us who have seen the effects they cause know that we have to do more to help the victims of those diseases. On pleural plaques, we are looking at the matter at this very moment. We will publish a consultation document soon. We are determined to take some action, and I am happy to meet his delegation.”

Camps Solicitors welcome these moves by the government to reverse last October’s ruling and to restore the right of employees who were negligently exposed to asbestos and who then developed pleural plaques to claim the compensation that they are entitled to. To make a compensation claim arising from asbestos or any other diagnosed industrial disease visit www.camplaw.co.uk or call one of our solicitors who specializes in dealing with claims arising from asbestos or any other diagnosed industrial disease.

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Neil Worrall

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Camps Solicitors

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