BLM partner Nick Pargeter comments on the outcome of his High Court case in an article published in Post Magazine:
Multi-defendant asbestos ruling 'significant' for future damages awards
A High Court ruling around compensation in asbestos-related lung cancer cases with multiple defendants will have a significant impact in the way damages in future cases are awarded, law firm BLM has claimed.
Justice Jay yesterday (11 December) ruled that in multi-defendant asbestos-related lung cancer claims where no one defendant is responsible for more than half of the total exposure, damages will be divided by relative share of exposure.
Nick said: "The claimant's argument could ultimately have had only one of two outcomes, both of which were unfair - zero recovery, or a defendant responsible for only 2.5% of exposure being required to pay 100% of damages," Pargeter said.
"Heneghan thus has a significant effect on asbestos-related lung cancer practice, and in respect of other occupational cancer cases. It arguably falls into that rare category of asbestos-related illness case - one where policy, logic and principle, and fairness coincide," he added.
Click here to read the full article.
