Swindon solicitor Brigitte Chandler has obtained a Supreme Court judgment which will change the law for fatal accident cases in the UK and potentially cost the insurance industry millions in extra damages each year.
The judgment by the UK’s two most senior judges Lord Neuberger and Lady Hale – president and deputy of the Supreme Court – rules that the law relating to how damages are calculated has been inaccurate and not moved with legal developments. 
As a result, many claimants have been grossly under compensated. Yesterday’s ruling means in future claimants will receive greater sums to compensate for loss of income and services with the level of compensation calculated from the trial date, not the date of death.
The case was brought by Ms Chandler, one of the UK’s leading industrial disease lawyers, on behalf of Ian Knauer, whose wife Sally died from mesothelioma as a result of exposure to asbestos in a prison in Dorset where she worked as an administrator.
The Ministry of Justice accepted liability for her death in the High Court in 2014 and Mr Knauer received nearly £650,000 in damages.
He appealed and, as the case was of national interest, Mr Justice Bean gave leave for Mr Knauer to by-pass the Court of Appeal and go straight to the Supreme Court.
The appeal was heard by seven Supreme Court judges including Lord Neuberger and Lady Hale last month.
Their judgment, issued yesterday, allowed Mr Knauer’s appeal and indicated that the law should be changed for all future personal injury claims where someone has died – including medical negligence claims, industrial disease claims and fatal road traffic accidents.
Mr Knauer was given an immediate further sum of nearly £60,000 and had his legal costs paid.
Ms Chandler said many judges and lawyers have been aware of this anomaly in the law for many years.
“There have already been other cases which were brought before the courts but the insurance industry bought off these claims,” she said.
“Mr Knauer did not bring the appeal for the sake of getting more damages but to help other people who will have to bring claims in the future. He felt, as a result, perhaps his wife did not die from mesothelioma in vain and she was able to help future claimants.”
In 1999 a Law Commission report on claims for wrongful death indicated this change needed to be made – but the Government decided not to bring in a new law.
Ms Chandler has represented many hundreds of Swindon railway workers and their families over the past 30 years in asbestos-related compensation cases.
