News
Northern Ireland to restore compensation for pleural plaques
3 June 2010
The Northern Ireland Executive is to bring back compensation for pleural plaques, reports insurereinsure.com. The move follows publication of the responses to the Executive’s consultation paper on pleural plaques.
The paper is the latest in the wake of the House of Lords' decision in Johnson v NEI International Combustion [2007] UKHL 39 which found that asymptomatic pleural plaques were not compensable. Responses from a variety of concerned parties are contained in the paper including medical and legal professionals, unions, political parties and claimants. The responses to the House of Lords' decision in England and Wales and Scotland were also taken into consideration. Having reviewed the information before it, the Northern Ireland Executive has decided to follow Scotland's lead and introduce legislation to ‘restore symptomless pleural plaques as an actionable condition.’
If the legislation is successfully introduced it will mean that asymptomatic pleural plaques will be compensable in Scotland and Northern Ireland but not in England and Wales.
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