Professional Negligence Claims for Miners: A Case Study

Mr. A claimed against his former employers, British Coal, for vibration white finger and carpal tunnel syndrome caused by over-exposure to vibrating tools during his time working for the Coal Board. Responding to a press advertisement he instructed a firm of solicitors in the belief that they were specialists in mining industrial disease cases.

Two years after he lodged the claim he was advised by the solicitors to make an offer to the Coal Board to settle for £9,700.00. This was roughly £6,000.00 below even the most basic valuation of Mr. A's claim under the Vibration White Finger Compensation Scheme. However this was not explained to Mr. A at the time and, therefore, he accepted his solicitor's advice and instructed them to make an offer to settle at £9,700.00. Fortunately it was not accepted.

Roughly a year later Mr. A and his solicitors began work on an additional aspect of the claim, namely the value of help Mr. A had been receiving with gardening, DIY and decorating because of his own inability to perform these tasks as a result of the problems with his hands. Under the Compensation Scheme this is known as a "services" claim.

Pursuit of this services claim involved the completion of questionnaires by Mr. A and the family members who had been providing him with assistance with the gardening, DIY and decorating and at around this time he also advised his solicitors that he had had to take lower paid work because of the trouble with his hands, raising the possibility of a claim for lost earnings.

Some months later British Coal made an offer of £16,661.30 in full and final settlement. Mr. A's solicitor's advice on this offer was wholly inadequate. Later examination of their files by us revealed that they did not even understand themselves how the figure had been arrived at, although as it happens it was a correct valuation, under the rules of the Compensation Scheme, of two heads of claim to which Mr. A was entitled, namely:-

1. General damages - for the pain, suffering and loss of amenity his white finger and carpal tunnel syndrome was causing him; and
2. For handicap on the labour market - Mr. A was working but if he ever had to look for alternative employment in the future then his hands would prevent him from applying for certain types of job, thereby making it harder for him to find work.

Significantly, however, the offer included nothing for Mr. A's services claim, for lost earnings or for surgery which Mr. A had undergone to relieve his carpal tunnel syndrome.

Despite the inadequacy of the offer, Mr. A was advised by his solicitors to accept so he did. This was in February 2002.

Roughly a year later Mr. A approached us expressing concern about the advice he had received and we agreed to apply for the former solicitors' files so that we could go through them for him.

The files constituted devastating evidence against Mr. A's former solicitors, revealing a fundamental lack of understanding of firstly how damages should be calculated under the Scheme and secondly the value of Mr. A's particular claim.

He instructed us to pursue a negligence claim against those former solicitors which was settled, within roughly 18 months, for £7,500.00. This was, of course, on top of the £16,661.30 which Mr. A had been paid upon the original settlement.

The case reveals the inadequacy of advice which some claimants receive concerning the value of their claim under the Vibration White Finger/Respiratory Compensation Schemes, and how even a relatively straightforward claim was negligently under-settled. In Mr. A's case his professional negligence action against the former solicitors resulted in an increase in damages of roughly 50%