Lawyers Welcome Pledge By Prime Minister To Tackle Pleural Plaques Pay Outs
Asbestos Related Injury
20/03/2008
Lawyers representing victims of asbestos related injury have welcomed the pledge by Gordon Brown to produce a consultation paper on the plight of Pleural Plaques victims, an injury caused as a consequence of negligent exposure to asbestos.
In October last year the highest court in the UK, the House of Lords, announced that it would not overturn a ruling of the Court of Appeal in January 2006, which currently prevents sufferers of pleural plaques from claiming compensation. The Court of Appeal's ruling reversed over 20 years of established practice, during which time sufferers of pleural plaques had been able to claim compensation for the condition.
However, the intervention of the Prime Minister last week has brought hope to many victims of this disease and it is hoped that a deal will be reached with UK insurers which will see them forced to make payments to compensate sufferers.
Pleural plaques are areas of thick scar tissue which form in the chest lining and diaphragm and are caused by asbestos exposure. Over time, this thickening of the pleural membrane, which lines the lungs, can make breathing difficult. The condition is often a cause of great anxiety as the asbestos exposure causing the pleural plaques carries the increased risk of the sufferer developing other more serious asbestos related diseases, including asbestosis, mesothelioma and lung cancer.
Adrian Budgen, head of the Industrial Disease Litigation Unit at national law firm Irwin Mitchell, and who specialises in asbestos-related injuries commented:
"This is a very welcome news after a continual onslaught by some of the country’s leading insurance companies to deny innocent victims of asbestos exposure compensation for injury caused by their employer’s negligence.
"My firm represents many affected people who will be devastated by their diagnosis. Pleural plaques are physical scars, albeit not visible to the naked eye, and are often a cause of great anxiety, being a possible precursor to very serious, and sometimes fatal, disease."