Claimant lawyers are adamant that sufferers of pleural plaques must...
Claimant lawyers have insisted that sufferers of pleural plaques must retain their right to compensation, as insurers prepare for a second time to persuade the courts that payments should be abolished.
Cases due to be heard in the Court of Appeal next week follow an earlier, unsuccessful attempt by the insurance industry to overturn the law and block compensation for the asbestos-related condition.
Richard Langton, vice president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (Apil), said: "When these cases were heard last year, we said that it was nothing more than a greedy and shameless attempt by insurers to save yet more money at the expense of injured people.
"People diagnosed with pleural plaques have suffered physical damage because of exposure to asbestos, and are playing a waiting game to see whether they go on to develop a disease which could kill them.
"There should be no question about whether they should be compensated for this exposure and the consequent years of suffering."
Insurers are arguing that compensation should not be paid as claimants have no ‘physical' symptoms.
