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The British House of Lords this week ruled that 3,000 compensation claims from South African asbestos miners and their families should be heard in the English courts, media reports said.
Five law lords in London ruled that the miners, who claim to be suffering asbestos-related diseases, would be denied justice if they were prevented from suing their former employer, UK-based Cape Plc, in Britain instead of South Africa.
Senior law lord Thomas Bingham said there were no developed procedures for handling group actions in South Africa where law firms would be reluctant to take on such a potentially protracted and expensive litigation on a “no win, no fee” basis.
The miners are claiming compensation for diseases they believe they contracted while working for Cape between 1930 and 1979 when the firm was mining asbestos in the Northern Cape and the other northern provinces of South Africa. The claimants say they contracted diseases such as asbestosis and Mesothelioma - a form of cancer.
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