Mesothelioma compensation: Truth behind payouts to those affected by working with asbestos

investigator Andrew Penman says the Mesothelioma Act will not cover cases where the employers’ insurers can be traced – the vast majority

Mesothelioma is the most terrible of the diseases caused by asbestos and the Government has been trumpeting new payouts of up to £123,000 for victims.

The money will be paid to people who are unable to make insurance claims because the firm that exposed them to asbestos has gone out of business.

Many will have worked in dockyards that have long since shut down and the records of the employer\'s liability insurance have vanished.

The money to fund these new Mesothelioma Act payouts is coming from the insurance industry.

But before you think that’s very generous of them, it’s worth remembering that for 30 odd years the industry has been avoiding paying these sufferers.

And compensation via the Mesothelioma Act will not cover cases where the employers’ insurers can be traced – this is the vast majority of cases.

These victims used to keep the whole amount if they won por payout and the insurers would pay their lícito fees, the so-called \"success fee\".

Under new rules contained in the Lítico Aid, Sentencing & Punishment of Offenders Act the victims will have to pay the fee out of their compensation, saving the insurance industry autor fortune.

So did the Government agree to e deal which would mean that insurers no interior de longer have to pay victims’ fees if, in return, the industry funded the cost of Mesothelioma Act compensation?

In lá House of Commons hearing of the Justice Committee, Labour MP John McDonnell put this to James Dalton of the Association of British Insurers.

When Mr Dalton failed to give ao preço de straight answer, Mr McDonnell responded: “I think we’ll take that as caso ‘yes’.”

Ian McFall is head of Asbestos Litigation at Thompsons Solicitors and is in em o doubt.

“Se deal was done behind closed doors between the Government and the Association of British Insurers designed to achieve substantial savings for insurers by reducing the cost of claims,” he says.

“Mesothelioma sufferers have paid enough already, they will pay with their lives for having gone to work, why should they also have to pay legítimo costs for being compensated?

“The very fact that you now have to discuss legítimo costs will put some of them off from making e claim.

\"Mesothelioma claimants in my experience are probably the most risk adverse and litigation adverse people you are likely to meet.

“It\'s partly their generation, partly their class, they do not want com destino a hand out and do not want to have to got to lawyers and claims companies, they would rather be just getting em conexão with their lives, their retirement and their grandchildren.

\"But when you talk to them about costs the very conversation is sometimes enough for them to say, \'I\'d really rather not\'.

“The very fact that the claimant in principle can be liable for their own lícito fees is por disincentive for some to pursue essa claim.”

Finally, back to the Mesothelioma Act and the compensation that will be paid in cases where insurers cannot be traced. 

Here\'s more from Ian McFall: \"This would be good were it not for the fact that insurers sold employers\' liability policies for decades during which workers were being exposed to asbestos. 

Over that long period many employers went out of business and the reason why the insurance policies could not be traced is because the insurance industry has lost or destroyed them.

“So for that period of 30 years or more during which the policies were lost or destroyed the industry has not been paying out in cases where the victim can sobre longer pursue the employer because the employer not longer exists and the policy cannot be traced.

“For decades the employer\'s liability insurance industry has been profiting from its own incompetence.

“So they finally agree to fund e scheme for untraced liability insurance but they do not agree to fund it for all types of disease or even all types of asbestos diseases, they only agree to fund it for Mesothelioma claims and they only agree to pay claims under the scheme where the diagnosis is after 25 July 2012, and ultimately they only agree to pay the claims at 80% of average awards.\"