CWU Welcomes Scottish Government's Pleural Plaques Decision
The CWU Health, Safety & Environment Department has welcomed the decision by the Scottish Parliament to pass a new law which will mean that people in Scotland who have been negligently exposed to asbestos and diagnosed with pleural plaques will continue to be able to claim compensation for damage done following negligent exposure to asbestos.
Writing to all CWU branches in LTB259/09, Dave Joyce National Health, Safety & Environment Officer, advised that the new legislation will ensure pleural plaques victims will, in future, be compensated. Pleural plaques are scarring of the lungs caused by exposure to asbestos and victims have a far higher likelihood of contracting the fatal lung cancer mesothelioma. Pleural plaque victims suffer both physical and mental trauma due to their injuries.
The full LTB goes on to say:
The Scottish Parliament has passed the Scottish Government’s "Damages (Asbestos-related conditions) (Scotland) Bill", so overturning the illogical House of Lords judgement of October 2007 which will now have no effect in Scotland. This means that the unjust treatment imposed on Scottish pleural plaques victims by the House of Lords decision has been remedied.
In October 2007, Asbestos victims suffered a hammer blow when the House of Lords made a judgement supporting Insurance companies and rejecting a Trade Union backed appeal. The judgement blocked compensation for people diagnosed with pleural plaques, an asbestos-related lung condition that accounts for as many as 75 per cent of all asbestos claims in the UK. The judgement brought to an end compensation which had existed for over 20 years.
For over two decades, it had been accepted that pleural plaques constitutes an injury for which damages are recoverable in civil law.
However, a series of cases were contested by the big Insurance Companies, and on 17 October 2007 the House of Lords ruled that people with pleural plaques do not merit compensation in law as the condition was 'asymptomatic' (displays no symptoms). Sadly the Lords had failed to fully comprehend the trauma and suffering caused by the condition. While restricted to England and Wales and not binding in Scotland, the judgement would carry considerable weight and be considered as highly persuasive by the Scottish courts.
In November 2007 the Scottish Government announced that it intended to ensure that the judgement did not have effect in Scotland. In June 2008, after a period of consultation, the Scottish Government introduced the Damages (Asbestos-related conditions) (Scotland) Bill, to ensure that - despite the House of Lords judgement - pleural plaques and other asymptomatic asbestos-related conditions remained compensatable.
The condition of pleural plaques, which causes thickening of the lung membranes, clearly indicates the presence of asbestos fibres in the lungs, and Workers diagnosed with pleural plaques can suffer mental anguish and clinical depression caused by anxiety over the presence of asbestos in the Lungs, knowing that they have been given a potential death sentence as the condition may cause life-threatening illnesses to develop later in life (Mesothelioma, Asbestosis and Lung Cancer). Although pleural plaques are not considered dangerous they can grow and cause breathlessness. Sufferers who were exposed to asbestos are 1,000 times more likely than the general population to develop the deadly cancer mesothelioma.
The House of Lords judgement caused further anxiety for thousands of people who are already living with the knowledge that their lungs have been irreparably scarred by asbestos, but who have not yet developed an even more serious condition. In the past many people worked in industries where they were not properly protected against exposure to potentially lethal asbestos and there is a moral duty to ensure that those who suffer the effects of asbestos due to our industrial past should be able to claim for damages. The Scottish Parliament's near unanimous endorsement of this change in the law received cross-party support.
It is unacceptable that those who are suffering the effects of exposure to asbestos, through no fault of their own, cannot claim compensation. Thankfully yet another move by the insurance industry to deny asbestos victims their rightful compensation has been thwarted thanks to the efforts of Trade Unions, Asbestos Campaign groups and lawyers.
The CWU now hopes the UK Government will follow suit as a matter of urgency, ensuring that victims across the UK are also compensated for the scarring caused by Pleural Plaques, whether physical or psychological. We can only hope that the UK Government implements similar legislation to rewrite the disgraceful October 2007 decision of the Law Lords.
Pressure is now mounting on Justice Secretary Jack Straw and the Westminster Government to give in to the Unions demands and follow suit with the Scottish parliament's decision and reverse the 2007 House of Lords judgement, so restoring payouts for sufferers of pleural plaques. Not to do so would create a 'postcode lottery' where workers south of the border are denied payouts.
The Health, Safety and Environment department has asked CWU supported MPs to join with other Labour Members of Parliament in seeking to get the right to compensation restored. There has been a number of parliamentary motions put down, a special debate on pleural plaques was initiated and several commons lobbies as well as the case being taken directly to Ministers.
Source: CWU
