As a parliamentary motion to change the law on compensation for asbestos-related lung cancer gathers support, APIL members can give the campaign a well-timed boost.

‘Early Day Motion 1223 – asbestos-related lung cancer’ was tabled this week by Martin Docherty-Hughes MP, who met with APIL recently to discuss a campaign to ensure sufferers of asbestos-related lung cancer receive full compensation.

Members will recall from a previous issue of the weekly APIL news email that the association has joined forces with the Asbestos Victims Support Group Forum (AVSGF) to campaign for a reform to the law to make asbestos-related lung cancer an ‘indivisible’ disease. This means that if one liable employer can be found, that employer or, more usually the insurer, would pay full compensation.

Early day motions (EDMs) are used by MPs to show their support for a particular topic or campaign. By attracting the signatures of other MPs, EDMs can be used to show the level of support for a campaign. Mr Docherty-Hughes’ EDM has already received cross-party backing from Labour, Plaid Cymru, Scottish National Party, and Democratic Unionist Party MPs.

We still need your help to reach even more MPs. Members are encouraged to get in touch with their MPs and ask them to sign the EDM.

For help with writing to your MP, contact Sam Ellis, APIL’s public affairs manager, at [email protected]. Sam will send you everything you need so it is quick and easy to draft a personal letter or email to your MP.

Support for reform was also sought from a cross-party group this week, when an APIL representative spoke about the campaign at a meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Occupational Safety and Health. The APPG includes MPs, members of the House of Lords, and other organisations with an interest in asbestos-related issues. The EDM was raised at the meeting.

Keep reading APIL’s latest news on a Thursday for more updates.

APIL’s has called for broad guidance on the circumstances in which a fixed recoverable costs uplift would be granted for a vulnerable client.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) confirmed that there will be an uplift to fixed costs for vulnerable parties, in new rules set out last week.

“We welcome the recognition that cases involving vulnerability have the potential to attract additional costs. But there is a danger that the new rule is simply tokenistic and will not be used in practice,” APIL’s immediate past president John McQuater told the Law Society Gazette. 

“There should be no costs penalties attached to applications and, while vulnerability should not be defined, there should be broad guidance on the sorts of circumstances in which an uplift would be granted for a vulnerable client.”

Read the full article here.

A producer for a national investigative news programme is seeking to speak to any APIL members with experience of handling cases involving sodium valproate.

Guidance states that there should be greater scrutiny of the way in which the epilepsy drug is prescribed. Two specialists should consider and document independently that there is no other effective or tolerated treatment for patients aged under 55 years, and women with childbearing potential must be supported on a Pregnancy Prevention Programme.

The journalist is investigating how this guidance is working, and if cases have arisen as a result of failures to follow this guidance.

Members who can help should contact APIL’s press and communications assistant Asher Mayers-Thompson in the first instance by emailing [email protected].

APIL has been contacted by the Northern Ireland County Court Rules Committee for views on how it should take forward the review of the county court’s legal costs, known as ‘scale costs’.

Views are sought as to whether the committee should adopt the 2001 guiding principles when undertaking the 2023 review, or whether new principles or guiding elements should be considered.

The consultation also includes questions about the rate of scale costs, and about factors to be considered when setting the number and width of the current cost bands.

APIL members practising in Northern Ireland who wish to be involved in this response should contact Ana Ramos, APIL’s legal affairs assistant, at [email protected] by Tuesday 13 June.

Exclusive reports in the latest issue of APIL Insight include news that the NHS is losing millions of pounds from at-fault compensators, and a detailed analysis of the most up-to-date data on motor injury claims.

APIL’s Insight email, a quarterly update about APIL’s research and analysis, is an exclusive member benefit and the latest issue was delivered direct to members’ inboxes on Tuesday (6 June).

Other articles include an examination of how a key scheme meant to improve the compensation process is failing the families of children catastrophically injured at birth.

APIL’s research seeks to highlight the issues faced by victims of negligence and provide members with insight to help them understand the latest developments affecting injured people and the sector. Find more on the APIL website here. 

Three new experts joined APIL’s database of experts in May. They are:

Mr Balraj Dhami, dentist, Sutton Coldfield

Dr Hana Patel, general practitioner and expert witness, Surrey

Mr Adam Sierakowski, consultant plastic surgeon, Chelmsford

Three experts were restored to the database in May. They are:

Mr Wayne Davis, expert witness in sporting injuries, Bristol

Dr Martin Harris, general medical practitioner, London

Dr Abbas Lohawala, consultant neuropsychiatrist, Birmingham

Find experts by using the expert database online. Alternatively, call Jacqui Newman, APIL’s experts and public enquiries officer, on 01159 435 437.

New experts are encouraged to join APIL’s database to increase the wealth of choice for personal injury lawyers in need of expert witnesses. Members who know of experts who could be an asset to the database should ask them to get in touch with Jacqui.

Nightmare!

DCP - 2 Defs, one of whom is a LIP (it's an MIB uninsured)

Tricky case - thoughts

Risk Assessment

acting for a family member

E SCOOTER

DCP

Fee remission before even issuing proceedings