Disease - July 2007
This edition deals with deafness test cases; medical expert
performance; the DCA consultation papers;...
...our regular asbestos update;...limitation and
support for the objective test; legislation surrounding
legionella in the workplace; success fees and what the future could
hold for an increase in compensation claims.
Deafness test cases
Only one of the Claimants' applied to appeal
the decision of His Honour Judge Inglis in the Deafness Test
Litigation. Permission was given; however funding has since
been withdrawn. Leave to cross appeal has been granted to two
Defendants. Read
more about the deafness test cases and funding
considerations.
Medical experts - Applications for permission to rely on
alternative medical evidence
Be aware of applications being made by Claimant’s Solicitors to
obtain permission for alternative medical evidence where their
medical expert has given a poor performance at trial in other
cases. We discuss the issues surrounding
medical experts and offer recommendations.
Asbestos update - Policy Trigger issues and other
matters
The decision in Bolton MMI and CGU certainly opened up a can of
worms and they are still squirming. The indemnity clauses in
Employer’s Liability Insurance Policies are now under the
microscope following the issue of declaration proceedings by
MMI. Read more about policy trigger and
other asbestos related updates.
Recent Developments in Limitation - Disease Claims
There was more proof of the objective test for knowledge being
applied by the Court in two successfully defended Weightmans
cases. We provide a first hand view of
the strategy used to defend these claims and comment on the recent
cases of Secretary of State of Trade and Industry v Mackie,
Donnison and Jones v DTI and McCoubrey v MOD.
DCA consultation papers
Will the proposed reforms for the claims process for
personal injury claims and damages have an effect upon disease
claims? We discuss what could potentially lie ahead for
disease claim handing.
Costs - 100% success fee for failure
The decision in Lamont v Burton means that a Claimant who
rejects a Part 36 Offer and fails to beat this at trial can still
recover a success fee of 100% for costs to the latest date on
which the Part 36 payment could have been accepted. It is questioned, does
Lamont encourage continued litigation?
Legionnaires disease
Weightmans Regulatory Services Unit recently presented at
an IOSH training day with regard to the legislation and recent case
law surrounding legionella in the workplace. Chrs Green discusses the impact of the case
law.
Trends
What is on the horizon in terms of conditions which could result
in compensation claims in the future and those where the number of
claims is likely to increase? Read more about RSI,
Asthma and possible links between occupations and
diseases.
If you would like to discuss any of these
topics in more detail, please contact Kieran.jones@weightmans.com
or gloria.ginvert@weightmans.com
This update does not attempt to provide a full analysis of those
matters with which it deals and is provided for general information
purposes only and is not intended to constitute legal advice and
should not be treated as a substitute for legal advice.
Weightmans LLP accepts no responsibility
for any loss that may arise from reliance on the information in
this update. The copyright for this update is owned by
Weightmans LLP 2007.