LTB No 880/11 Supreme Court Ruling On Pleural Plaques

[brothermagrew]

LTB No. 880/11
Ref P8
Date: 21 October 2011

To: All Branches,

Dear Colleagues

CWU, STUC and Unions Welcome Supreme Court Ruling on Pleural Plaques

The Trade Union movement with members in Scotland and the STUC have welcomed this months Supreme Court ruling on pleural plaques. The Supreme Court ruled that the Scottish Parliament was within its rights to pass a new law restoring pleural plaques victims' right to compensation, over turning the House of Lords controversial judgment of 17 October 2007 which decreed the Pleural Plaques was a benign, harmless condition. Workers exposed to Asbestos were badly let down by the House of Lords judgement which ended compensation for the asbestos related condition of Pleural Plaques. The Law Lords rejected an appeal by the Unite the union against an earlier ruling by the Court of Appeal in January 2006. The decision removed an established right to compensation, which had existed for 20 years, for victims of pleural plaques which are in almost every case caused by workers being exposed to asbestos due to negligence of their employers. Pleural plaques is associated with an increased risk of developing fatal conditions like Mesothelioma, Asbestosis or Lung Cancer. Diagnosis of pleural plaques often leads to extreme distress for the victims, as they fear they may develop fatal asbestos related disease which can often lead to a slow and painful death.

The Scottish Parliament subsequently passed new Pleural Plaques legislation in March 2009 which overturned the House of Lords judgement and restored Pleural Plaques sufferers in Scotland the right to claim compensation. Westminster on the other hand rejected the idea of following the Scottish Parliament. Five of the world's largest insurance companies - AXA General Insurance Limited, AXA Insurance UK plc, which operates companies like Swiftcover.com, Norwich Union Insurance Limited (Aviva), Royal and Sun Alliance Insurance plc and Zurich Insurance plc - then ganged together and launched an attempt to block the new Scottish Law through the Courts. That long battle has finally failed. In reaching its decision, the Supreme Court rejected insurance companies' arguments that the new Scottish law breached their human rights.

The STUC and a number of asbestos campaign groups have joined calls for the public to be made fully aware of their insurance providers' unacceptable behaviour. The Judgement is a vindication of the heroic battle by the victims of pleural plaques for fair compensation as well as the work undertaken by MSPs of more than one political party to legislate for justice. The insurance companies involved have now stretched and abused the boundaries of due diligence in throwing their resources at an increasingly desperate fight to deny responsibility and it is now time for them to shut up and pay up.

The judgement states categorically that the Scottish Parliament was perfectly within its rights to pass the Damages (Asbestos-related Conditions) (Scotland) Act 2009 and that is tremendous news for pleural plaques sufferers in Scotland. We now have an Act of the Scottish Parliament that establishes pleural plaques victims right to compensation and overturns the infamous House of Lords judgement to the contrary. Those responsible Insurers will now have to abide by the law and pay up. Thousands of pleural plaques cases have been in limbo while the insurance industry pursued this ill-fated legal action. The STUC has called on them to stop obstructing justice and not to try and put any more barriers in the way of victims seeking compensation.

The CWU is obviously delighted that the Supreme Court has ruled that the Scottish parliament was right to pass this law. The Westminster Government should now enact similar legislation for the rest of the UK.
Please see attached copy of the full written judgement.


Yours Sincerely
Dave Joyce
CWU National Health, Safety & Environment Officer

[brothermagrew]

Link to the Judgement:

http://www.supremecourt.gov.uk/decided- ... dgment.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;