i-law.com - Newsletter (Liability Risk and Insurance)

Aon reports on aviation sector third quarter

Aon Aviation’s quarterly ‘Airline Insurance Market Review’ reports the third quarter saw 11 incidents but not one loss in excess of US$5bn. The overall hull losses for the quarter were US$27.4bn with no liability losses. The annual..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Internet insurance fraudster jailed

A man who ran an internet-based insurance intermediary business CFT Group Insurance Services has been jailed for two and a half years for deception. The man has also been ordered to pay over £210,000 as confiscation. CFT had around 5,000..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Hurricanes won’t stop rate decline in UK

The current predicted level of losses from the 2004 hurricane season may not be enough to reverse the current trend of declining insurance rates in the UK, says Aon Limited. Total insured losses from the four major storms to hit North America are..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Swiss Re report on liability losses

Liability systems throughout the world are growing increasingly costly, according to Swiss Re’s latest sigma report. The study, “The economics of liability losses – insuring a moving target”, examines the development of..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Swiss Re on value of aviation insurance

Swiss Re’s new study on aviation insurance, “The true value of aviation insurance,” concludes that in order to maintain a system of sustainable insurance for the aviation industry, pricing must reflect the cost of capital to..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Increases in medical malpractice rates slowing

A study by Aon has found that the trend of high insurance rates experienced by US hospital professionals and physicians over the past three years shows signs of slowing in 2005. Aon’s Hospital Professional Liability & Physician Liability..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Increased demand for product recall insurance from 2005

The application in January 2005 of EC Regulation 178 for Food Safety looks set to increase demand for product recall insurance, predicts AIG Europe (UK) Limited. The Regulation, to be introduced in January 2005, will require UK food companies to..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Who Was That Masked Man?

Hands up who remembers The Lone Ranger? Alright, stop pretending, we all do, even if we were too young to watch the series the first time round. There were various elements to the show, which first aired on radio in the US in 1933, followed by..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Transparency Obligations Directive

By Financial Markets Law Committee The Financial Markets Law Committee has provided analysis of uncertainty under the Transparency Obligations Directive regarding the liability of directors and auditors arising from the publication of a publicly..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Guidelines for the Assessment of General Damages in Personal Injury Cases.

The Oxford University Press has published the Seventh Edition of the Guidelines for the Assessment of General Damages in Personal Injury Cases. New to this edition is that the figures will be increased to take into account the RPI increases since..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

APIL on client care protections

Unreasonable defendant challenges to CFA agreements in personal injury cases could be stopped in their tracks if client care protections are placed in the professional conduct code, says the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL). According..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Law Society’s new Anti-Discrimination Rule

The Law Society has announced that a new Anti-Discrimination Rule has come into effect. Its main purposes are to ensure that the Rule continues to reflect current legislation and to clarify various issues regarding enforcement and application. Under..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

CBI calls for alliance of insurers and government on EL

The head of the Confederation of British Industry, Digby Jones, has urged insurers to work in alliance with the UK government to find a solution to the current crisis over employers’ liability. Jones told a Marsh-sponsored seminar, that it was..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Compensation claims over slopping out

The Scottish Prison Service is reported to have denied claims that it had set up a fund designed to cover claims from prisoners alleging breaches of their human rights. Media reports suggest that there is a contingency liability fund of £26mn,..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Council tackles compensation claims

Fraudulent injury claims against Rotherham Borough Council are estimated at more than £1mn a year, according to a new report. To tackle the problem, the Council has joined forces with 12 other local authorities across the country in a new..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Managing conflict at work survey

A new report entitled “Managing conflict at work” says that while 83% of employers have a clear anti-bullying policy in place, when bullying does happen the focus is almost exclusively on supporting the victim, with little support,..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Research into attitudes towards vocational rehabilitation

A research report published by the Department for Work and Pensions and carried out by Andrew Irving Associates provides findings from research to establish the level of awareness of, and the perceptions and attitudes towards vocational..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Government launches Framework for Vocational Rehabilitation

Minister for Work Jane Kennedy has launched “Building capacity for work: A UK Framework for Vocational Rehabilitation,” designed to help people who become ill to stay in their jobs and prevent them leaving the workforce..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

TUC report on stress at work

The number of workers suffering from stress has increased this year, according to a survey by the TUC. Three in five workers (58%) now complain of being stressed at work, an increase of two% from 2002. The main reasons cited for stress are increased..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

HSE launches management standards for work-related stress

The Health and Safety Executive has launched a new approach to help employers work with their employees to manage the risks from work-related stress. Jane Kennedy, Minister for Work, said: “This is a very practical example of what can be done..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Costs of workplace accidents and work-related ill health

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has prepared interim updated estimates of the costs to Britain of workplace accidents and work-related ill health. These indicate that in 2001/02 health and safety failures cost employers between £3.9 -..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

UK P&I Club increase in premium rating

The UK P&I Club Board has agreed a general increase in premium rating of 12.5% plus the relevant contribution to any increase in the cost of the International Group’s 2005 reinsurance programme. The supplementary premium estimates for all..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

No compensation for Guernsey fisherman

A group of Guernsey fishermen who were looking to claim for compensation for the effect on scallops by the discharge of billions of gallons of untreated sewage have been told that there are no grounds for a claim. Initially, tests showed that the..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

$38.1bn in compensation for September 11

Victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, both individuals killed or seriously injured and individuals and businesses impacted by the strikes, have received at least $38.1bn in compensation, with insurance companies and the federal government..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Vice-presidents debate medical liability crisis

The ongoing medical liability crisis in the US was acknowledged by both candidates in the recent vice presidential debate, during the 2004 Presidential election campaign, according to the Physician Insurers Association of America (PIAA), an..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Halliburton in asbestos charge

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Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Asbestos-related disease in the UK will cost £8-20bn

The Actuarial Profession has published new research which reveals that that the total future UK cost of asbestos-related diseases is in the range £8-20bn. The UK insurance industry is expected to face half this cost (£4-10bn). More than..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Smoke-free laws improve health

A review of international research on the health benefits of recently enacted smoke-free laws has confirmed that such legislation has an immediate and positive impact on exposure to second-hand smoke, cotinine levels, respiratory health and levels..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

All-Party Parliamentary Group report on smokefree law

Members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health have called on the Health Secretary John Reid to include smokefree legislation in the forthcoming White Paper on Public Health. A cross-party delegation from the All-Party Group..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Study into high-voltage power lines and childhood cancer

Media reports have revealed a study that shows that children living under high-voltage power lines could run double the risk of getting cancer. The study, which has not yet been published, was carried out by the Childhood Cancer Research Group at..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

vCJD prions can be removed from blood

New research results have confirmed that infectious variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) prions that cause the human form of “mad cow disease” can be removed from blood. The study found that a new filtration technology from Pall..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Blood transfusion risk of vCJD

There is increasing evidence that infectious prions that can cause variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), the human form of “mad cow” disease, can be transmitted through blood transfusion, according to Roger Eglin, head of National..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

National Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance Unit report

The 12th annual report of the National Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance Unit has been published. The report looks back over the period from May 1990 when the Unit was set up to 31 December 2003. The report outlines the Unit’s work in the..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Epilepsy drug manufacturers face compensation claim

Four young children from three families, who claim they were damaged when in their mothers’ wombs by the medicines their mothers took to suppress epileptic convulsions, have launched a compensation claim against the drug manufacturers. Claims..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Synthetic chemicals and radiation link to breast cancer

A new report on environmental links to breast cancer has concluded that exposure to synthetic chemicals and radiation has contributed more than previously thought to the rising incidence of breast cancer. The report, “State of the Evidence..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Anti-epilepsy drug concerns in pregnancy

Researchers have found that an anti-epilepsy drug given to pregnant women can significantly lower their child’s IQ. The study, by The Walton Centre of Neurology and Neurosurgery, discovered that children of women who took sodium valproate were..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Health risk for mobile phone use over 10 years

A study from the Institute of Environmental Medicine (IMM) at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, has found that 10 or more years of mobile phone use increase the risk of acoustic neuroma, and that the risk increase was confined to the side of the head..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Discrimination risk of raising the retirement age

Raising the retirement age could wrap employers up in costly red tape when it comes to hiring and firing older workers, according to Croner, one of the UK’s leading providers of business information and advice. The company is highlighting the..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Age discrimination will not improve

Three quarters of people think age discrimination will not get any better in the next five years with a quarter (28%) saying it will get worse according to new research from Age Concern. Of those surveyed, 30% said the level of prejudice against..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Compensation culture “gone mad” #42

It’s those meanie insurers again. Residents of an East London housing estate have been told to remove window boxes because of safety fears. From now, no window boxes or pots will be allowed on window sills. The management committee said they..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Age bar not discriminatory

Legislation preventing over the age of 65 from applying for compensation payments for unfair dismissal or redundancy did not indirectly discriminate against male employees and thus was not contrary to European law. The Court of Appeal dismissed the..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Fixed term employee discrimination

The time limit for a complaint by a fixed-term employee of less favourable treatment, namely non-payment of a non-contractual bonus paid to permanent employees, ran from the date of the act complained of. That date was not the date an intention in..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Discontinuance of group litigation

In group litigation on behalf of persons under a disability, where some claimants proposed to discontinue, they would not require the permission of the court if their discontinuance did not amount to settlement and their claim forms did not name any..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Council not liable for layout of highway

The duty of a highway authority to maintain and repair the highway was no more than a duty to repair the structure of the highway if it was out of repair and did not encompass a responsibility for the layout of the highway. The claimant had claimed..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Driver not liable for soft tyre

A regulation prohibiting the use of a motor vehicle on a road with under-inflated tyres did not of itself make a driver liable in negligence for an accident caused by his under-inflated tyre. The judge said that in the real world, nobody would..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Failure to advise is breach of duty

The claimant was the co-founder of the Eden Project in Cornwall, but he obtained no financial benefit from it because, based on the advice of his solicitors (the defendant), the project was developed and run by means of a charitable trust. The..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Arrears of pay subject to statutory cap

Where, after a finding of unfair dismissal, the tribunal made an order for reinstatement which was not complied with so that a compensatory award was made, the arrears of pay which would have been payable in addition to the compensatory award, but..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Evidence and submissions should be considered

When assessing loss of pension right, an employment tribunal had to consider whether a fair and equitable assessment could be worked out on the basis of the evidence and submissions put forward by the parties; it was an error of law to reject such..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Video link cheaper than personal attendance

Where counsel were to present short applications before the Civil Court of Appeal, they should consider whether a video-link hearing might be more appropriate, and less costly, than personal attendance at court. The Court of Appeal refused..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Injury to feelings part of general damages

The claimant suffered a physical assault at the hands of the defendant in a Barbados hotel room. The defendant was later convicted of soliciting the claimant’s murder. The claimant began civil proceedings claiming damages for assault and..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Breach of duty to loyalty to company

A company director who failed to disclose his own misconduct to the company was in breach of his duty to loyalty to the company because he had tried to divert the company’s business to another company established for his own purposes. An..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Illness not foreseeable as a result of work pressures

The claimant was an experienced teacher in the reception classes of an independent prep school. She was suffering a period of serious clinical depression following additional school inspections and significant changes in work patterns and..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Failure to warn of operation risk was negligent

A patient, whose doctor failed to warn her of an inherent risk in surgery when obtaining her consent and who suffered injury when the risk eventuated, satisfied the test for causation in negligence where she could prove that, had she been properly..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Manhole fall man gets compensation

A labourer has been paid £4,000 compensation by his employer after falling into a manhole at work. He fell approximately seven feet onto a concrete floor. There was no safety barrier around the manhole. He still experiences problems with his..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Disability discrimination settlement

A college has agreed to pay £15,000 compensation and to issue an apology to a disabled member of staff. The 49 year old woman, who has the condition of ME (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) had been part-time Disability Co-ordinator at the College from..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Wood machinist loses finger

A man who lost his finger and function from his left hand after an accident at work has been paid £8,000 compensation by his employer. The man worked as a wood machinist and injured his hand while working on a panel saw. He argued that he..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Du Pont pays $1.29mn in discrimination case

A former employee of DuPont has been awarded $1.29bn in an employment discrimination case filed by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). The jury awarded the plaintiff $1bn in..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Hospital pays £4.75bn to cerebral palsy child

A young man with cerebral palsy, caused by delays at birth, has been awarded £4.75bn. Delays meant that he suffered severe brain damage due to lack of oxygen to the brain. He has severe, permanent, physical disabilities, no independent mobility..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Submariner gets $20.5bn for asbestos cancer

A former nuclear submarine machinist is to receive $20.5bn after contracting a fatal form of lung cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. The money is to come from two companies, one which provided equipment on submarines, and one which sold a..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Gurkha wins pension discrimination case

An ex-Gurkha has settled his race discrimination case against the Ministry of Defence. He sued the MoD because his pension was just a fifth of the pension received by a British soldier. His pension was just £95 a month. He also claimed that in..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

£400,000 discrimination award upheld at appeal

The employment appeals tribunal has upheld a decision in which a prison officer with depression was awarded £400,000 after being discriminated against and unfairly dismissed. The Prison Service had appealed for the amount of the award, believed..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Disabled man wins damages over access

A disabled man, supported by the Disability Rights Commission (DRC), has won £1,097 damages after suing a train operating company. The appeal court judge ruled that the train operator acted unlawfully by not paying the cost of the man’s..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Bullied City man’s award cut

The £900,000 damages awarded to a former employee of Cantor Fitzgerald International who claimed he was bullied has been cut by around £117,000 by the Appeal Court. The former employee claimed he had been bullied before being sacked. The..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

£9,000 compensation for knee injury

A labourer has received £9,000 compensation in an out-of-court settlement after badly injuring his knee in an accident at work. The man was laying a new gas main and was working to secure the walls of a trench with sheet piles when the banking..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Lawyer fails in pavement slip claim

Making a claim for compensation isn’t as easy as it is sometimes cracked up to be. Try asking Gordon Jackson QC, a leading Scottish lawyer and Labour MSP. He sued Edinburgh City Council for £50,000 after he slipped on an icy pavement,..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Sex discrimination over prison rub downs

A female prison officer is claiming sex discrimination after she was asked to conduct ‘rub-down’ searches of male inmates. She claims that only female prison officers could search female prisoners but both male and female prison officers..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Human rights breach over experiments

The government has been accused in court of breaching the Human Rights Convention by using the Crown Proceedings Act 1947 to prevent an ex-soldier from suing the Ministry of Defence for negligence. The soldier was exposed to mustard gas at Porton..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Model wins sex discrimination claim

A model has won her sex discrimination claim after she was dropped from a fashion campaign when she turned down the advances of a woman who was employed by a high street store. The model said she had been sexually harassed by the woman. Further..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Asbestos widow wins settlement

The widow of a man who died after working with asbestos has been awarded damages in an out of court settlement. The man was diagnosed with mesothelioma and died shortly after. He had worked for many years near pipes lagged with asbestos. The..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Unfairly dismissed but no compensation

A tribunal has ruled that a manager at a zoo had been unfairly dismissed because there had not been a full investigation and he was not given a chance to explain his actions, but because he had been guilty of gross misconduct, the tribunal said he..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Discrimination case over beard

An employment tribunal has heard that a Muslim worker was repeatedly asked to trim his beard and not to wear a skullcap by senior Virgin West Coast Trains staff at Euston Station. The man was sacked and is claiming racial and religious..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Woman sues over MRSA

A woman is asking for £30,000 in compensation from a hospital after she contracted the MRSA superbug. The 67-year old woman said it was caused by poor hygiene. She had been admitted to hospital for routine heart surgery, but was forced to..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Theatre stage collapse compensation

Compensation is to be paid to four people who were hurt when a stage collapsed at Birmingham’s Alexandra Theatre during a production of The Sound of Music. More than 30 people plunged 20ft into the orchestra pit when the temporary stage..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Sex and race discrimination case lost

A toilet cleaner has lost her sex and race discrimination case against Canterbury Cathedral. The woman, originally from the Philippines, complained of unfair treatment compared with her white male colleagues. She alleged that after the complaint she..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Racial discrimination at work

A council has paid undisclosed compensation to an employees who was the victim of racial discrimination at work. The woman was told by her manager she had to ask permission before speaking in Punjabi. The woman works in the social services..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Hoverspeed sues Customs & Excise

Hoverspeed has filed a £50mn damages claim against the UK’s Customs & Excise. The action alleges that Customs & Excise staff were heavy-handed when searching passengers. The action follows the High Court ruling from two years..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Climbie social worker loses appeal

The social worker who was sacked by Haringey Council after the murder of Victoria Climbie has lost her appeal against her dismissal (see LRI 170 ). An employment tribunal found that the council had acted reasonably when it terminated her..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004

Employees face unlimited damages for not speaking out

Ordinary employees are now first in line to be sued after disasters and accidents, according to a new report from the charity Public Concern at Work. “Botched legislation passed last October means employees now face paying unlimited damages if..

Online Published Date: 01 November 2004

Appeared in issue: 171 - 01 November 2004