London | Tuesday
ABOUT 7 000 sick and dying South Africans claiming compensation for asbestos-related ailments from the London-based insulation and building materials company Cape Plc, may settle for UK25-million (R330-million), their British lawyers said.
“This is substantially less than the claimants may expect to receive after a trial, if Cape could have afforded to pay. But it should meet the claimants’ objective of obtaining meaningful compensation,” Leigh, Day and Company said in a statement.
Lawyer Richard Meeran said the claimants were likely to adopt a realistic approach to the settlement in view of Cape Plc’s uncertain financial position. Should the company lose the trial, it would clearly be unable to pay the full amount of any judgment, he said.
Lawyers for the claimants have therefore urged the company to produce an insurance policy.
“Cape has specifically provided in its accounts for payment of UK8,3-million to its lawyers for its own legal costs, but has set aside nothing to pay the claimants if it loses.
“Subject to clarification of Cape’s financial and insurance position… a figure of UK25-million might well be acceptable to the claimants.”
Legal action was launched against the company after more than 10 000 of its employees at asbestos mines in the Northern Province and Northern Cape were diagnosed with asbestos-related diseases between 1977 and 1989.
About 7 000 South Africans have registered claims against the company thus far. The trial is scheduled to begin in the British Royal Court of Justice next April.
“Almost 300 claimants have died uncompensated since the case started, and many more will die before the conclusion of the case,” Leigh, Day and Company said.
The lawyers also announced that British MPs had signed a motion in the country’s Parliament appealing to Cape Plc to offer a just and equitable settlement to South Africans suffering from asbestos-related diseases.
An appeal to this effect was made by the chairpersons of the UK parliamentary human rights and safety and health committees, followed by 37 MPs signing an “early day motion” in Parliament.
The motion called on Cape Plc’s shareholders to use their influence to encourage the company to act responsibly and ethically, noting that it exploited thousands of black workers at its asbestos mines in South Africa from 1893 to 1979.
The document also notes that Cape employed child labour, and that due to atrocious conditions thousands of workers developed fatal or debilitating asbestos-related diseases. It also accuses the company of prolonging the litigation.
The Guardian reports that the company would have known that under British law the levels would be judged to carry a fatal risk.
Similar appeals to Cape plc have also been made by the Northern Cape government, the Amnesty International Business Group, the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions, and other non-government organisations, Leigh, Day and Company said.
Cape Plc could not be reached for comment on Monday. – Sapa
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