Breakthrough in the Law for Mesothelioma Sufferers

I am a Specialist Solicitor dealing with Asbestosis and Mesothelioma claims. These cases can be very challenging as it is often difficult to find the relevant insurer to cover a claim in which the Claimant was exposed to asbestos in excess of 20 years ago. As I have so much experience in dealing with these claims I am normally able to locate the insurer of Defendant companies. However there has been a recent Supreme Court decision which has been described as revolutionary by Insurance Lawyers.

In this recent decision the Claimant had been exposed to asbestos for 27 years. The employer’s insurers were located but they had only insured the company for 8 of those 27 years. The Supreme Court decided that the insurer was liable for the full 27 years and that this insurer then had to try and locate any other insurers for the remainder of the period. This decision is presently restricted to mesothelioma claims. It is the first time English Law has recognised an equitable right of an insurer to claim compensation from its own insured in respect of a claim on the policy.

The decision should mean that workers affected by this terrible disease should recover the compensation that they are entitled to, as there is no longer the incentive for the insurance industry to refuse to co-operate when asked who insured a particular company.

There has been lots of publicity recently about how much the NHS is paying out to Lawyers who have assisted clients claim compensation in Clinical Negligence cases.

I read an article recently with the Headline – “NHS Sounds Compensation Alarm After £120,000 Lawyer Bill for £5,000 Claim”

This article reported that a third of the £1.1 billion paid out by the NHS in compensation was handed to Lawyers. In an attempt to gain empathy from the reader the article stated that the cost to the tax payer was expected to rise by £1.4 billion next year with the NHS conceding that it faced an ‘increasingly difficult task’ in managing the level of pay-outs.

The NHS raised concerns about the Coalition Government’s overhaul of legal aid saying it had ‘influenced the behaviour of some claimant lawyers’ and led to a rise in legal claims in many cases.

There was reference to one particular case where an NHS Trust agreed to pay £5,000 compensation as a result of failing to diagnose a patient’s tumour on their kidney. The Claimant Solicitors were criticised for claiming costs of £121,700.

I would like to put this into perspective and highlight what difficulties I face as a Claimant Clinical Negligence Specialist Solicitor.

Bringing a Clinical Negligence claim is extremely procedural. You cannot send a letter to the Hospital Doctor alleging your client has received negligent treatment. The Clinical Negligence Protocol requires you to investigate the case. Then you need to obtain medical evidence from an independent Consultant, commenting upon whether the client’s treatment was substandard/negligent. These legal costs have to be incurred before you can write to the Defendant to set out why you are bringing the claim.

If I obtain supportive medical evidence I draft a letter to the Defendant Hospital/Doctor setting out the allegations of negligence. The Defendant has four months to investigate the claim and decide if the treatment was negligent. They have an opportunity to settle the claim at that point in time. If, however, they want to defend the claim, the legal costs increase. The Defendant can limit legal costs if they decide to settle a case early on.

The article refers to the fact that the number of cases where no compensation is paid has almost doubled in five years, from 2,533 cases to 4,990. In fact it confirms that in 2014 to 2015 the authorities said that it has saved more than £1.2 billion for the NHS by rejecting claims.

So in short Claimant Solicitors are being forced to do more work to persuade the NHS to settle cases because they are fighting them more vigorously.

But they have totally missed the point.

Let us not forget that the patient has suffered injuries, and often life changing injuries, as a result of a negligent mistake (people may even be surprised to learn that there are some mistakes that Doctors make which are “acceptable”).

Many mistakes are due to lack of resources, which results in Clinical Negligence claims, which results in the NHS setting aside part of its Budget to pay out on these claims, which results in less resources, which results in more mistakes, which results in more compensation pay outs. And the spiral continues downwards.

The simple answer is that Claimant Lawyers do not make Clinical Negligence cases – the way to reduce compensation pay outs is to reduce mistakes by Doctors. It is entirely unhelpful to the point of being insulting for the NHSLA to blame patients for being mistreated by the NHS.

But what I think this prolonged campaign against Clinical Negligence shows, is the need for a Claimant to instruct Specialist Clinical Negligence Solicitors – such as myself.

Penny Horne – Specialist Clinical Negligence Solicitor, GMS LAW

GMS Law are pleased to support Remember a Charity Week, from 7^th to 13^th September 2015.

Remember a Charity is an organisation whose aim is to promote charitable giving in Wills. They do not promote one particular charity, instead their message is simple – you should consider leaving something to a charity in your Will.

There has been recent bad press, involving con-men obtaining peoples’ details from charities and then praying on these people. Therefore, this is an opportunity to look at it another way – and without any pressure at all.

If you want to make a Will then GMS Law are here to help you. Remember a Charity would ask you to do just that – remember a charity in your Will. GMS Law has therefore set aside additional resources during this coming week for anyone who wants to either make a Will or update their existing Will. Just call 01603 595700 and ask for the Probate Department.