GMAVSG: Compensation from your employer

Compensation from your employer

Civil Compensation
Employers, owners of premises, manufacturers, and others, all have a general duty of care to people who work and to those that may be affected by their operations. If you were exposed to asbestos as an employee and suffer an asbestos disease or if you have been affected as a non-employee by the activities of others, you may be able to claim compensation through the courts.
If you sue someone for negligence you do so through the civil courts. You will ask for compensation because you have suffered harm as a result of their negligence. Civil courts cannot punish any one who is guilty of negligence by fining them or sending them to prison, they can only order them to pay compensation.

If you have worked in a job where you were exposed to asbestos you will have to explain where and how you were exposed to it. You will also have to explain how your employer failed to protect you from asbestos dust. Sometimes this can be difficult since it may be many years since you worked with or came into contact with asbestos, and it can take many years for an asbestos disease to develop. However, until well into the 1970s, employers generally failed to protect their employees from asbestos dust. Even today some employers fail to adequately protect their employees and members of the public from exposure to asbestos dust.

Suing your employer for negligence
Although you may successfully sue your employer for negligence, it is your employer’s insurance company that will actually pay compensation. If your employer has gone out of business it might still be possible to sue if the insurance company can be traced. If that is possible, then a solicitor can ‘bring the company back to life’ for the purposes of claiming compensation. Most cases do not actually go to court, although the case might continue right up to the day of the court appearance. Because asbestos cases can be complex it is essential that you have a solicitor who specialises in asbestos cases.

Greater Manchester Asbestos Victim Support Group can give you information about solicitors who are experts in asbestos claims. Since it is no longer possible to get Legal Aid for personal injury cases you will have to get a solicitor to take on your case on a ‘no-win-no-fee’ basis. This is called a ‘conditional fee agreement’.
If you are a member of a Trade Union you should ask for legal representation as it will mean that you will not have to pay any money up front.

CONDITIONAL FEE AGREEMENT

Before you sign an agreement
It is usual for a solicitor to make preliminary enquiries to see if you have a good case before a conditional fee agreement is offered. This should not take a long time. Your solicitor should be able to tell you if you have a case within about two weeks, although sometimes it may take longer. It is possible that you will be charged some money for these enquiries that may include getting work, insurance or hospital records. Make sure that your solicitor makes very clear to you what you might have to pay for these enquiries. However, solicitors on the Greater Manchester Asbestos Victim Support Group Panels do NOT charge anything whatsoever for asbestos victims who come to them through the group.

How the conditional fee agreement works
You take out an insurance policy so that in the event of you dropping or losing your case you will not have to pay the other side’s legal charges or your own solicitor’s charges or money your solicitor has laid out to others (“disbursements”) during the case – these will be covered by your insurance policy.
If you win, your solicitor claims his/her charges, money laid out to others and the cost of buying insurance for you, from the other side.
Also, if you win, your solicitor may be entitled to a “success fee” for taking on the risk of your case which will be paid by the other side, not by you.

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