Health & Safety
Families of mesothelioma victims able to claim for suffering caused
The
Scottish Parliament’s passing of the
Rights of Relatives to Damages Bill has been welcomed by asbestos
campaigners for allowing the family of mesothelioma victims to seek increased
damages for the asbestos-related cancer.
Irwin Mitchell
solicitors said that the Bill will allow families to claim damages for grief
and suffering after the mesothelioma sufferer has died, even if the deceased
settled their own claim while alive.
Therefore, cancer victims will be able to proceed with
their own claims in the knowledge that their families will not be placed at a
disadvantage. Adrian Budgen, head of Irwin Mitchell’s industrial diseases group,
said “This makes perfect sense as the compensation money is needed as much by
the person afflicted by the disease as their relatives”.
The STUC trade union
body also backed the Bill, calling the law change “devolution in action” and
stating that it is an occasion where politicians should be recognised for
getting something right.
Links
Scottish Parliament
Rights of Relatives to Damages Bill
Irwin Mitchell Solicitors
STUC
April, 2007 |
