Industrial Disease

Claims involving industrial diseases are often the most sensitive of those arising from the workplace, especially where there is the possibility that large numbers of workers may have been affected.

At Buller Jeffries, we offer a highly trained and very specialist team to deal with such claims. We have stayed at the forefront of disease litigation from our early days when we were directly involved in test cases which explored the criteria for liability. As medical science advances and attributes new diseases to exposure in the workplace, we remain at the leading edge. In particular, we are very experienced in dealing with large “group” litigation claims, for example, respiratory disease including asbestos related conditions and extrinsic allergic alveolitis. Our focus and organisation, in addition to our media-sensitive approach, essential in such claims, leads to the best result for you, the client.

Buller Jeffries play a leading role in the development of the law in relation to insurance policy interpretation, particularly in mesothelioma and legionella cases.

Examples of diseases handled include:

• asbestos claims from pleural plaques to mesothelioma
• respiratory diseases ranging from asthma through to pneumoconiosis
• deafness
• hand/ arm vibration syndrome
• work related upper limb disorder
• dermatitis
• various kinds of cancer due to work place exposures, such as oil or rubber
• outbreaks of smallpox and Legionella
• hard metal disease
• occupational stress

In addition, our team members appear regularly at inquests, particularly in disease cases. Inquests are often overlooked as subsidiary to the other procedural stages of a claim. However, we have long recognised them as being an essential part of the whole experience of a claim, and our knowledge of the coroner’s court rules and thorough preparation often result in a positive result for the case as a whole.

Complex, leading edge or sensitive cases - consult our strategic & sensitive litigation unit (SSL). 

Team Members:
Derek Adamson, Denise Brosnan, Roger Coates, Rob Edwards, Richard Seagrove, Stephen Styles, Lindsey Tate, Paul Donnelly, Tracey Phillips and James Neale