Industrial Deafness Claims

by Lynn Watts, Partner and Head of the Disease Claims team (Praxis Partners)

12^th September 2007

Starts 12.00 noon – 1.00pm

Venue: the Freemasons Hall, Bridge Street, Manchester Location Map

 Reserve you place now by emailing Karen@createsolutions.co.uk

 – A Practical Perspective following the Landmark Judgment in the Nottingham and Derbyshire Test Litigation

The lunchtime lecture will focus on the topical issue of industrial deafness and is to be presented by Lynn Watts, Partner and Head of the Disease Claims Team at Praxis Partners, who co-ordinated the defence on one of test cases and spent much of last autumn and winter in court at the trial and then judgment hearings. 

In finding that none of the employers were liable for damages the Judge has all but closed the door to more than 4000 retrospective deafness claims, many arising from the textile industry.

The landmark findings have provoked considerable debate and a review by the medico-legal experts on the diagnosis and quantification of noise induced hearing loss.

The lecture will explore this debate and concentrate on the implications for claims practitioners, insurers and brokers. The themes to be covered include

• Liability for breach of duty at lower levels of noise exposure and the evidence that is now needed to defend claims

• Earlier liability for breach for employers with ‘greater than average knowledge’ of the risks of noise to hearing damage

• The new and robust ‘Inglis Criteria’ for diagnosis of noise induced hearing loss

• Quantum topics including the range for general damages, awards for tinnitus and hearing aid claims

• Developments since the Judgment – the Claimants’ Appeal, ATE insurers approach to funding deafness cases, the new practice for medical evidence.

 CPD Credits : This lecture entitles attendees to qualify for CPD Credits under the CII’s Continuous Professional Development Scheme