The Accident Compensation Specialists UK    

Two year plaques legal battle reaches final leg

21 Jun 2007

Zurich and Norwich Union will begin their final defence against claimants of pleural plaques on Monday, in a bid to halt compensation payments permanently. It comes over two years after Justice Holland took the decision to cut damages in half. The Court of Appeal last January then ruled that plaques should in fact be uncompensatable, and five cases will now be heard by the House of Lords.

“All sides in the appeal agree that, while pleural plaques are undoubtedly caused by asbestos exposure, the plaques themselves do not, and never will, cause symptoms, nor will they lead to any more serious conditions such as asbestosis and mesothelioma,” said Mike Klaiber, disease claims manager at Zurich.

“The defendants accept that there is a higher rate of incidence of such cancers in those with pleural plaques, but this is proven as having nothing to do with the presence of the pleural plaques themselves, but is related to the original exposure to asbestos. The insurers acknowledge that the diagnosis of pleural plaques causes distress, but they say that sufferers need to listen to the advice of their medics, which will properly reassure them that this condition is asymptomatic.”