Bookmarkers beware: Bookmarks to pages other than the home page may not work after we change servers in April Editor's Choice | This Week in BMJ | Press releases BMJ No 7128 Volume 316 News Saturday 31 January 1998 Miners win historic battle for compensation The British government faces an estimated £1bn ($1.6bn) bill to compensate more than 100,000 former miners who contracted respiratory diseases, after a historic ruling in the High Court last week. Thousands of former miners jammed telephone hotlines after the judgment by Mr Justice Turner in six test cases, which the judge described as the "tip of the iceberg." The ruling is the culmination of a long legal battle by the pit deputies union NACODS to pin the blame for emphysema, bronchitis, and other respiratory illnesses on the failure by British Coal and its predecessor, the National Coal Board, to control the levels of coal dust in mines. One of the miners, Kenneth Williams, looking at his xray Photo: MIKE FORD/IRWIN MITCHELL PR The payouts are expected to amount to the largest industrial injury compensation package in British legal history. As British Coal is now defunct owing to privatisation, the government will have to pick up the tab. John Battle, the energy minister, said that the government would "deal promptly with valid claims." In a 470 page judgment delivered after a trial lasting 119 days, Mr Justice Turner held British Coal and the National Coal Board negligent at common law and in breach of their duties under the Mines and Quarries Act. He found "abundant evidence" that officials interpreted their duties as "requiring the production of coal first and the taking of precautions in respect of health second." He said British Coal had failed to take all reasonable steps to minimise the effects of dust by using known and available dust suppression techniques "from about 1949 to 1970 and to a lesser extent thereafter." The judge awarded damages ranging from £3,200 to £10,500 for pain and suffering and loss of amenity in the six cases, rejecting two other cases because the men had not proved the link between their condition and coal dust. All but one of the six received reduced awards because their illnesses were deemed to have been caused partly by smoking. These sums make up only part of the compensation. Special damages - loss of earnings and medical and care costs - will be fixed next month by the court unless agreed with government lawyers beforehand. In 1974 British Coal introduced a no fault scheme for pneumoconiosis, which has paid out £165m. It was only in 1993 that the government allowed miners to claim industrial injury benefit for bronchitis and emphysema within strict limits which were relaxed last year. Clare Dyer legal correspondent BMJ Home | Current issue | Past issues | Classified ads | Career Focus | Feedback Collections | About this site | About the BMJ | BMA | Medline