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Written question asked by Lord Lofthouse of Pontefract (Labour), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Bach (Labour) on Tuesday, 24 June 2008.

British Coal Compensation

Question
asked Her Majesty's Government:(a) how many cases have been dealt with by the Union of Democratic Mineworkers, Nottingham Region, and its claims handling company, Vendside Ltd, in the British Coal vibration white finger litigation, British Coal respiratory disease litigation and the British Coal industrial deafness litigation; (b) which firms of solicitors represented such claimants; and (c) how many claims were dealt with by each firm of solicitors.
Answer

The following table shows the number of claims registered by the UDM and its handling company, Vendside Ltd, and UDM claims handled by solicitors in the British Coal Vibration White Finger (VWF), Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) litigation as at the 8 June 2008:

Claimants' Representatives VWF COPD NIHL Total
UDM / Vendside Ltd 11,522 16,586 10,410 38,518
Ashton Morton Slack LLP 5,220 4,423 844 10,487
Beresfords Solicitors 6,946 6,291 1,763 15,000
Latham and Co 0 8 0 8
Lloyd Green Solicitors 7 129 0 136
Moss Solicitors 5,187 4,513 15 9,715
Total 28,882 31,950 13,032 73,864

Additionally, BRM and Wake Smith Solicitors have handled some UDM claims. However, the department's claims handlers, Capita, have not been informed which claims have been passed from the UDM to them to handle and which were registered directly with BRM or Wake Smith by the claimant.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
4107; 702 c220-1WA
Session
2007-08
Subjects
Compensation Coal British Coal Corporation Industrial diseases Mining Solicitors Union of Democratic Mineworkers Vendside
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk