Navy man fights on for human rights

Appeal against the Court of Appeal decision in Matthews v Ministry of Defence (see LRI July 2002) is being heard by the House of Lords. Former naval electrical mechanic Alan Matthews, suffering from pleural plaques that could lead to worse illness, is arguing that Crown exemption from liability in tort to members of the armed forces prior to 1987 is in breach of his human rights. The Court of Appeal, overturning a High Court decision, had held that, as a provision of substantive law, such claims were not covered by the fair trial requirements of article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Some hundreds of other claims hang on the eventual outcome of this case.