A recent legal ruling that makes it more difficult for sufferers of asbestos-related cancer to claim compensation from former employers is to be overturned by the government, Tony Blair signalled on Tuesday.


Speaking at the GMB general union’s conference in Blackpool, the prime minister said he regretted last month’s House of Lords judgment cutting compensation payments to mesothelioma victims and was examining ways of changing it.


A change in the law could lead to bigger and faster compensation claims against insurers. Some 2,000 people die of the disease each year, with the number of deaths expected to peak in 2015.


The law lords ruled that where a former employee was exposed to asbestos dust by several employers he would need to seek a proportionate share of compensation from each. Before this ruling, victims had been able to seek full recompense from only one employer without proving which was responsible for the fatal exposure.


In the clearest indication yet that ministers will act to help victims, Mr Blair said:

“I regret that judgment. I’m looking at the moment to see the best opportunity for us to change it. If we can change it we will. I hope to announce something on this in a couple of weeks.”

Brendan Barber, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, congratulated Mr Blair for “doing the right thing” and called for early legislation.

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However, campaigners and legal experts suggested government departments were struggling to agree on how to tackle the problem, with the Department of Trade and Industry and Ministry of Defence concerned about their potential liabilities towards employees of former state industries.


The Department for Constitutional Affairs appeared last week to rule out amending the compensation bill, suggesting the mesothelioma issue was too complex to be added on.


Labour backbench MPs last week threatened to force the government’s hand by amending the compensation bill, currently going through the Commons, to overturn the Lords ruling.


The MPs and union campaigners want to ensure that mesothelioma sufferers and their families receive full and swift compensation. They argue that the disease is unusual because it is caused by cumulative exposure and because the life expectancy of victims between diagnosis and death is so short, typically only 18 months.


They also point out that even if the Lords judgment is overturned, compensation is often delayed because victims find it difficult to track down not only their previous employers but also their employers’ insurers at the time they worked there. Union officials have accused the Association of British Insurers of dragging its feet on a proper tracing scheme.


Some legal experts warned against trying to overturn the Lords judgment. Rod Freeman, a partner at Lovells, the law firm, said parliament could be stepping into a “minefield” if it tried to legislate. He added that it was “not easy” to see what law could be put in place that would offer sufficient compensation to victims while ensuring the bill did not fall entirely on a small number of companies simply because they were the “last man standing”.


Source: The Financial Times