The Process of Making a Claim

The Initial Visit

As part of our asbestos law services, we will immediately arrange to visit you at home or somewhere convenient and will spend some time with you gathering information and providing advice.

This will cover your whole work history, contact with asbestos and your symptoms and treatment. This information is important as it is the basis of our investigation and your claim for compensation. Do not worry about whether you can remember all your employers over the years as we can help by obtaining a list of them from the Inland Revenue.

Our legal advisor will also discuss the funding of your compensation claim. Often this is by way of a conditional fee agreement (often called "no win no fee"). This will protect you from paying any costs out of your own pocket at any stage or from paying out of your compensation as costs are dealt with separately at the end of the claim.

We can also fill in the benefit application forms with you on this occasion and deal with that process for you also.

Investigation

We will then prepare your statement and apply for your medical records at the same time as working on locating the party who are to blame along with their insurers. As soon as it is possible we will instruct an independent consultant chest physician to prepare a medical report which is needed for the legal claim for compensation.

If we have filled in the benefit application forms we will send these off and ensure that you hear from them with a result in a reasonable time period.

Hopefully by this stage we will be in contact with the insurers of who are to blame (the defendants). We can then put the basis of your compensation claim to them and ask them if they will agree to pay or not.

Court Proceedings

When we have contacted the defendants and obtained a medical report and any other expert evidence needed and we have gathered enough information together to consider your claim for expenses, we are likely to issue Court Proceedings. By this it means that we send the formal court documents detailing your claim, to the Court and the Defendants have a set period of time to then respond by sending their Defence to the Court. The Defence must confirm what parts of the claim are admitted or denied and must give reasons for the matters that are denied. In this way we can narrow down the extent of what needs to be proven by us in your claim.

After the Defence is received, the court then starts to manage the procedure of the court case (the proceedings). This means that it allocates a timetable for when the evidence and other details such as the list of losses and expenses will be exchanged and will direct when the final hearing or trial will take place. There are special rules about how a Court handles a claim for mesothelioma because the whole process is speeded up, each case is considered separately by the Court and we would report back to you at each stage with confirmation of what will happen next.

Negotiations and Settlement

Once we have issued court proceedings, most cases settle without the need to go to a final hearing. This means that the chances of you having to even go to Court are slim. Usually we are able to start negotiations before the issue of proceedings by putting offers to the defendants. Court proceedings are then necessary if we need to put pressure on the defendants to force a settlement or to speed the process of the claim up.

Defendants can make offers to settle your claim for compensation at any time before or after the issue of court proceedings. Each offer will be considered with you carefully.

State benefits that may be available

We recommend that if you are eligible you should apply for benefits as soon as possible. There may be an impact on the claim, which we will explain to you, but it won't stop you claiming.

Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit

This is currently paid when the exposure was in the workplace, (the rules will be changing in the future). It can be claimed even if there have been no national insurance contributions and it is not means tested. It is payable from the onset of the illness and can be backdated 13 weeks from your application.

If you were exposed to asbestos as a member of HM Armed Forces, you cannot apply for this but you may be entitled to a war disablement pension. Applications for this are made to either the services Personnel and Veterans Agency or The War Pensioners Welfare Service

If a family member has died from mesothelioma then you may still be able to claim within 12 months of the date of death by applying to be the appointed person for claiming and then claiming within 6 months of appointment. The payment is then based on a potential back payment of 13 weeks prior to the date of death.

Pneumoconiosis (Worker's Compensation Act 1979) Payment

Where there has been an award of industrial injuries disablement benefit and where - employers exposing you have ceased trading and a case has not been brought against them then you can apply for a one off payment under this scheme. The amount in cases of mesothelioma is based on the victim's age.

The application should be made as soon as you can. Which means the application should go in with the IIDB application if this is being applied for at the same time.

If you are classed by the application as a "dependant" on the person who died then you may still be able to claim.

Other allowances available:

• Constant attendance allowance
• Exceptionally severe disablement allowance
• Reduced earnings allowance
• Incapacity allowance
• Income support or pension credit, housing benefit and council tax benefit
• Carer's allowance
• Home responsibility protection
• Bereavement benefits
• Child tax credit/ working tax credit

How can Fentons help?

If you think you have a case, or require further legal advice or assistance with regards to an asbestos disease and compensation, why not call our freephone helpline on 0800 019 1297 or fill in the brief industrial disease claim form.