FSCS pays out compensation following pressure from law firm Field Fisher Waterhouse

The government’s Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has finally agreed to pay out compensation to a group of workers suffering from asbestos related diseases, following pressure from law firm Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP, amongst others.

For over one and a half years, successful claimants were not granted their compensation due to a dispute over who should pay. Rodney Nelson-Jones, Head of Asbestos Claims at Field Fisher Waterhouse, represented one of the claimants, John Warburton.

Mr Warburton worked as a lagger for two years for Cape Darlington Ltd, formerly known as Darlington Insulation Company Ltd, which is one of the largest employers to have used asbestos. Numerous workers were exposed to substantial quantities of asbestos in the 1950s and 1960s.
In January 2006, Cape Darlington Ltd was put into administration and ceased to pay damages, and their insurers, Chester Street were also insolvent. This should have meant that 90% of damages awarded against Cape Darlington were paid for by the FSCS.

But the FSCS refused to pay due to complicated indemnity arrangements between Cape Darlington and William Baird Plc. In the past, workers suffering from asbestos related diseases received compensation from William Baird Plc. But the company refused to make any further payments, on the grounds that the amount of compensation they agreed to pay out had been reached.

For twenty months, successful claimants were not granted their compensation whilst actuaries investigated whether the cap under William Baird’s Indemnity Agreement had in fact been reached. In July this year, Rodney Nelson-Jones wrote to Peter Hain MP, the Secretary of State for the Department for Work and Pensions, to draw attention to the case.

In September, the FSCS finally accepted that both the insurer and the company are insolvent, and agreed to pay out 90% of the value of the successful claims against Cape Darlington.
Rodney Nelson-Jones said: “I am glad that following pressure from myself and others, this long 20 month stand-off has finally been resolved and that asbestos disease sufferers and their families can finally be paid the compensation against Cape Darlington that is due to them.”

This latest decision follows a lengthy and consistent campaign by the Asbestos Claims Department at Field Fisher Waterhouse. The firm has been working with the Department for Work and Pensions, the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) amongst others. The Asbestos Claims Department at the firm have concluded over 1,750 asbestos compensation claims and recovered over £100 million compensation for asbestos victims over the past 25 years.

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For further press information please contact:

Louise Eckersley
PR Manager
Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP
35 Vine Street
London
EC3N 2AA
United Kingdom
020 7861 4120
info@ffw.com
http://personalinjury.ffw.com/

Notes to editors:
In this case, the FSCS refused to pay because of a dispute between the parent company, Cape Plc, and William Baird Industrial Limited who sold Darlington Insulation to Cape Plc in 1992. Cape Darlington’s asbestos victims received compensation from William Baird as part of the sale agreement with Cape Plc. But William Baird said the limit on the amount of compensation they agreed to pay had been reached, and so the FSCS refused to pay the claims until the dispute between the two companies was resolved.


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