Asbestos Victims Urged To Campaign For New Law

The law firm Thompsons Solicitors is calling for asbestos victims and their families across the UK to write to their MPs asking them to support a Private Member’s Bill which, if passed, will make it possible to claim compensation in cases where an employer’s insurer cannot be traced.

Andrew Dismore, Labour Member of Parliament for Hendon and Vice Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Occupational Safety and Health, has published his Private Member’s Bill — the Employers’ Liability Insurance Bureau Bill.

The Bill would give the same protection for injured working people as there is for those injured on the roads by uninsured drivers. Where a negligent driver who is uninsured causes injury or death, the Motor Insurers Bureau pays full compensation to the victim.

At the moment, a claimant who cannot trace the insurer of an employer who has gone out of business is unable to claim damages.

Thompsons Solicitors says that the Bill would "plug the black holes in records of employers' liability insurance into which an estimated 5% to 10% of asbestos-related disease claims fall".

Ian McFall, Head of Asbestos Policy at Thompsons Solicitors said, "This Bill will be welcomed by all our clients, the injured as well as the families of those who have been killed due to negligent asbestos exposure who currently face getting no compensation because the insurance industry has failed to identify who insured their ex employers."

The Bill is scheduled for a second reading on 26 June 2009.

Source: Thompsons / Croners

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