News in brief 9th July 2015

Court fee victory for asbestos victims
Payments made to asbestos victims under statutory schemes will no longer count as capital for the purposes of assessing whether a claimant can claim a remission from court fees when suing negligent employers.

The Ministry of Justice has agreed to change the law following a judicial review brought by the Asbestos Victims Support Groups Forum UK and two individual sufferers.

Their lawyers – solicitors Leigh Day, Robert Weir QC from Devereux Chambers and Jeremy Hyam and Kate Beattie from One Crown Office Row – argued that mesothelioma sufferers were typically of modest means. Their illness makes them disabled within the terms of the Equality Act 2010.

They invariably recover a lump sum payment under the Pneumoconiosis Etc (Workers’ Compensation) Act (PWC Act) of approximately £15,000; this meant that, provided they had a nominal amount of other capital, they would be above the £16,000 upper eligibility limit for fee remissions.

Their claims for damages are generally of £150,000 to £300,000, meaning that, under the new court fee regime, they would have to meet an issue fee of approximately £10,000. The claimants argued that, for mesothelioma sufferers with a limited life expectancy, giving up any of their disposable capital in the last months of their lives would prevent them from pursuing a claim. Permission to bring a judicial review was granted, with the hearing due later this month.

However, Lord Chancellor Michael Gove last week agreed to exclude from the definition of ‘disposable capital’ compensation awards made to mesothelioma sufferers under the PWC Act and other schemes for mesothelioma sufferers.

Leigh Day partner Harminder Bains said: “Initially, the government challenged the claimants’ arguments, stating that it was not ‘unreasonable’ for mesothelioma victims to use the lump sum payment to pay for court fees.”

Anthony Whitston, speaking on behalf of the Asbestos Victims Support Groups Forum UK, said: “Yet again, dying mesothelioma sufferers who have very limited financial resources have had to take court action to get justice. In this case, they should never have had to launch legal action to stop the government charging £10,000 in court costs to claim compensation for the criminal negligence of employers, often government as employer, who continued to expose them to asbestos decades after it was known to cause cancer.”

A new stage for legal aid cuts
A new play that examines the effects of the legal aid cuts, told from the perspectives of solicitors and clients, began a six-week run in London this week.

The Law Society is sponsoring the Bush Theatre’s summer production, The Invisible by Oscar-winning playwright Rebecca Lenkiewicz, which aims to bring the realities of the legal aid system to life.

The play’s synopsis explains: “On her one night off this week, lawyer Gail is on a date with a man called Ken. It isn’t going well. All he really wants is some sympathy. All she wants is a bottle of rosé, a little fun and to forget it all.

“But Gail can’t switch off. Not really. Because, in a bedroom in Southall, a woman is being abused and there’s no one to help her. Up and down the country, people are being forced to represent themselves in court. Tomorrow morning, an old man will wake up to a different world. Changed. Hated. Invisible.”

It runs until 15 August. Click here for more information and tickets.

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19 Aug 2016

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