Mesothelioma Legislation Enacted in London
The long-running UK saga of mesothelioma legislation has ended without changes sought by victim’s rights groups to increase compensation. Laurie Kazan-Allen and IBAS have kindly provided access to a transcript of the debates. The IBAS news archive also includes a brief January 8 item regarding the outcome.
Also rejected were amendments proposed to increase funding for mesothelioma research. A cynic might think the UK attitude is: "Why invest in mesothelioma research when, to a large degree, damages are capped at a low number for for many claims?" The damages cap situation of course does not apply in the US. Nonetheless, in the US, there also is precious little support for mesothelioma research among most (not all) players in the US asbestos litigation industry. Some plaintiff firms and individual lawyers do make meaningful contributions, including the Simmons firm.