Amicus hits out at insurers and ambulance chasers

14/12/2004

Amicus Britain’s biggest private sector union will today (14 December 2004) condemn insurers who are attempting to shirk their responsibility to compensate up to 75 per cent of asbestos claims in a High Court challenge.

Insurers are challenging the right for workers exposed to asbestos to claim compensation for pleural plaques, a calcification of the lungs that can be caused by exposure to asbestos. There are on average 14,000 Pleural Plaques cases a year.

The test case being summed up in the High Court today involving Amicus members could have far reaching consequences for thousands of workers who have been exposed to asbestos over the past 50 years.

The union will also hit out at dubious non-lawyer claims companies which are fuelling insurers claims of a growing compensation culture.

Amicus General Secretary Derek Simpson says, “Insurers are being given ammunition by unscrupulous ambulance chasers to attack a legitimate class of legal action. Asbestos is not yesterday’s problem. Amicus and its lawyers are determined to ensure that workers suffering from asbestos related injuries due to the failure of employers to protect them have the right to compensation.

“Amicus is receiving hundreds of calls a week in response to the union stepping up its campaign to compensate asbestos claims and fight back against the claims farmers. The union has created a database which is a structured permanent register detailing cases of asbestos exposure. The database will be used to ensure that union members suffering from asbestos related diseases have a better chance of winning their legal case than other claimants do.”

Pleural Plaques (PP) is currently held to be a legitimate injury worthy of compensation because it causes scarring on the lungs; it shows an increased risk of developing a more serious asbestos related injury, and leads to anxiety as a result of fear of developing an incurable asbestos related illness.

Typical awards for pleural plaques are around GBP5,000, with the right to return to court if more serious asbestos related illness develops, or GBP10,000 to GBP15k on a full and final basis.

The insurance industry is attempting to strike out this legitimate class of legal action and is being helped by unscrupulous ambulance chasing claims farmers who are taking “scan vans” vehicles equipped with X-ray equipment to UK towns that once had asbestos industries to plunder for pleural plaques cases.

Insurers are claiming that an increase in pleural plaques cases is evidence of the so-called compensation culture and that scan vans are fuelling the increase. But the real cause of the increase is the widespread and indiscriminate use of asbestos in many industries until the early 1980s, and a failure by employers to protect workers. One of the worst affected industries was shipbuilding, in which several of the men whose cases will be decided worked. A lagger who worked with asbestos has a 1 in 10 lifetime risk of developing mesothelioma, the risk increasing as he gets older. The disease has wiped out a generation of men.