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It may be recalled that we previously blogged on asbestos in schools in June 2020. In that feature, we reported that the Department for Education’s survey, launched in 2018, had revealed that some 87% of the schools that responded confirmed that they had asbestos in at least one location on their sites. As such, lobbying of government to address the problem has begun through the Joint Union Asbestos Committee.
We previously indicated that schools were therefore likely in the future to be a source of asbestos claims from a diverse group including teachers, pupils, administrative and maintenance staff and other visitors to the premises.
It came as no surprise then, that such a claim has recently been reported in the national press. On 6 November 2020, the BBC in Wiltshire reported that the family of Terry McLaughlin, a former art teacher at two schools in Swindon between 1979 and 1993 who sadly died of mesothelioma in 2018, had settled a claim against the predecessor local authority responsible for the schools.
The family of Mr McLaughlin were represented by Hodge, Jones & Allen Solicitors. Allegations included that Mr McLaughlin would use asbestos gloves and would also clean and refurbish asbestos kilns that had been installed on site for ceramic art lessons.
On 10 April 2024, the High Court handed down its decision in Williams-Henry v Associated British Ports Holdings Ltd [2024] EWHC 806 (KB). In that judgment the presentation of the Claimant’s claim for personal injury was considered fundamentally dishonest and so was dismissed under section 57 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 (“the 2015 Act”). In considering whether…
After the introduction of the reforms to the Civil Procedure Rules in 2013, you may recall some judges becoming, at least initially, excited about the prospect of experts giving evidence concurrently (so-called “hot tubbing”). Since that early flush of excitement, I have been involved in only one trial in which it was used and I…
Provisional damages operate as an exception to the general rule that damages are assessed on a once-and-for-all basis. Where a claimant finds themselves at a risk of developing a disease or deterioration in their physical or mental condition in the future, the general rule would require the court to assess that risk and compensate the…
