Lawyers welcome government position on pleural plaques

by Richard Kilner

Story link: Lawyers welcome government position on pleural plaques

Lawyers from legal firm DWF have welcomed the government’s decision not to legislate to overturn the House of Lords’ judgement on the pleural plaques case.

Late last year the Law Lords came to the view that pleural plaques, indicative of exposure to asbestos but without symptoms, were not on their own enough to warrant compensation.

In the wake of that unanimous decision the Scottish Parliament drew up plans to overturn the ruling in Scotland, so that compensation claims would be permitted.

This week the Under-Secretary of State for Justice, Bridget Prentice, stated that the government would not introduce similar legislation as it would be deemed to fundamentally alter the negligence law.

Ian Macalister of DWF has said that the Scottish law change may provoke challenges under the Human Rights Act 1998, and could enable non-Scots to use the new law.

Macalister went on to say that despite the Scottish Parliament’s plans, they would not work in England, meaning that Scots with pleural plaques due to exposure in England would not be able to claim compensation.

However, the greatest difficulty could arise should an individual be exposed to asbestos in both England and Scotland, making it impossible to ascertain where the damage occurred and thus whether the proposed Scottish law would be relevent.