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Personal injury news
Miners’ £100m knee injury test case
The Government is defending against a group action brought by miners who want personal injury compensation for knee injuries suffered whilst at work.
Five firms of solicitors have banded together to bring the miners’ claims to the Courts, and the first hearing is due to be heard in January 2006. The action shall be defended by the Department of Trade and Industry, who took over responsibility for liability after the privatisation of British Coal.
The two knee conditions which are to be looked at in the test case are osteoarthritis and damage to the menisci, both of which have symptoms including pain, inflammation, and locking of the knee. However, solicitors from the group action made it clear that bursitis, also known as housemaid’s knee or beat knee, was not something for which personal injury compensation could be claimed in this case.
The test case is a massive one, involving tens of thousands of miners, and if successful it is expected that tax payers will have to foot a bill of over £100 million to pay for the personal injury compensation.
Mr Patterson, a partner at one of the personal injury firms involved in the case, said that he believed the group action had “a reasonable chance of success” in successfully showing that the knee conditions derived directly from the work of the miners and that British Coal had knowledge of the problem but failed to act.
Independent research by Birmingham University has found that work involving prolonged kneeling or squatting does increase the chance of developing osteoarthritis in the knee, and if lifting is also involved, the likelihood of osteoarthritis doubles.
