3 solicitors have been dismissed and 3 other lawyers have received fines from the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal at the Yorkshire law firm at the centre of the coal miners’ health compensation scheme scandal.  The penalties were announced at the end of a six-week investigation conducted by the SDT into Raleys Solicitors, a firm based in Barnsley and Wakefield.  Six charges were levelled at Raleys’ staff, including breaching rules on practicing… read more

The government has announced it is scrapping a controversial plan to deduct compensation paid out to former employees of a car parts manufacturer who developed asbestos related diseases after being exposed at work.   Ex-workers at Turner & Newell, an American owned company with several factories in Britain, faced having some of their compensation taken off them by the government, as they already received compensation from a fund set up by… read more

In the first birth defects compensation claim since the Thalidomide scandal in the 1970’s, residents in the Northamptonshire town of Corby have taken the town council to court for it’s role in cleaning up toxic substances from the former steelworks.  18 young people and their families have gone to court in London seeking millions of pounds in compensation from the council, which they say was negligent in the redevelopment of… read more

The Legal and Medical magazine has reported on a new development in the ongoing legal wrangles over compensation for pleural plaques sufferers which has taken place in Northern Ireland.  Lawyers acting on behalf of some of those affected by their exposure to asbestos have called for the Executive to launch a consultation into the issue, with a view to establishing a compensation scheme for sufferers.Since the House of Lords ruling… read more

Further warnings of the financial impact on companies who fail to carry out sufficient risk assessment procedures to ensure their employees’ safety have been issued by the Health and Safety Executive as part of its “Shattered Lives” campaign.  The HSE has highlighted the case of a company prosecuted after one of its drivers broke his ankle on some decking near a diesel pump.The accident shows the importance of carrying out… read more

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has launched a new campaign highlighting the risks of slips, trips and falls in the workplace – and the impact they have both in terms of deaths and injuries to the workforce, but also the financial implications for employers.  Last year alone, there were 61 deaths and 14,000 serious injuries caused by slips, trips or falls from height in British workplaces, costing the economy… read more

Speaking at the association’s annual dinner, Amanda Stevens, President of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers has called for an end to high pressure tactics used by insurance companies against accident victims.  These tactics often result in injured people accepting compensation that is far below what they could expect if they used an independent solicitor.Ms Stevens said last week that the watchdog of the insurance industry, the Financial Services Authority… read more