Lawford Kidd's Blog

A coroner has ruled that a primary school teacher, who was exposed to asbestos for years, died as a result of an industrial disease.

Elizabeth Belt, who had also contracted cancer, was killed following a battle with mesothelioma after being exposed to the substance when pinning artwork to pinboards in her classroom. Before her death, Belt had spoken of her exposure to asbestos in her school with the coroner confirming that it was this that eventually killed the 68-year-old.

Sheriff Principal James Taylor has recently published his much anticipated report on the system of expenses and funding of civil litigation in Scotland. The report contains a number of recommendations for far-reaching changes to the current system, some of which relate directly to the personal injury claims process.

Background

The need for a review of expenses and funding of civil litigation in Scotland was initially highlighted by the then Lord Justice Clerk, the Rt. Hon. Lord Gill, in his report of the Scottish Civil Courts Review. The recommendation was taken up in March 2011 when Sheriff Principal Taylor, a member of the Board of the Scottish Civil Courts Review, was asked to conduct the review by the then Minister for Community Safety, Fergus Ewing MSP.

The Review was extensive, and included 57 meetings, a fact finding visit and a public consultation exercise. It has resulted in a report described by the Scottish Government as “thorough and meticulous,” which puts forward a number of radical and substantial changes to the current system, and sets out 85 recommendations to put these into practice.

InjuriesBoard.ie has published its review of 2011, which shows that compensation totalling €210 million was awarded in 2011 in respect of 9,833 personal injury claims. The average award in the period was €21,339. During the year the Board made an award of €829,444, its highest to date.

Award values via the Injuries Board remained consistent with awards through the Courts. The average award in 2011 was €21,339, down 3.8% on 2010. This reduction is largely due to a reduction in the proportion of work related claims – typically of higher value – and reduced loss of earnings, given lower salaries across the economy.

The total value of awards in the period increased by 23% but this was largely driven by an increase in the number of awards assessed in the period. Underlying claims volumes remained stable, increasing by 3% in the period and suggesting that the often mooted increase in claims during recessionary times has not occurred.

Over three quarters of awards (76.5%) were for injuries from road traffic accidents, while the remainder were split between workplace (8.4%) and public place (15.1%) accidents.

The Government has announced an overhaul of victims’ services that will see up to £50 million generated from offenders to help create a speedier, more supportive system for victims of serious crime.

Under the new proposals set out by the Justice Secretary, Kenneth Clarke, criminals will be forced to fund victims' support services and those with unspent convictions could be banned from claiming compensation.

The proposals have now been put out to public consultation, which will run until 22nd April 2012. The proposed reforms include:

• Ending payments for minor injuries such as sprained ankles, cuts and grazes and speeding up payments for serious injuries;
• Greater funding for victims' support services, better targeted at those most in need;
• Stopping criminal injuries compensation payments to people with unspent convictions - totalling at least £75million over the past decade;
• Banning criminal injuries compensation payments to people who have been resident in the UK for less than 6 months (except for UK and EU/EEA nationals);
• A new statutory Victims' Code including the right for victims to make a personal statement and to request a meeting with their offender;
• A simpler route of complaint and redress for victims.

Justice Secretary, Kenneth Clarke, said:

'Victims in this country must be able to rely on a justice system which punishes offenders properly and ensures that victims who suffer serious consequences are properly helped and supported.

'Cash compensation should be better focused on blameless victims of the most serious crimes and more support for victims should be funded by offenders rather than taxpayers.”