Compensation Bill [Lords]

In the 2002 case of Fairchild, the House of Lords decided that someone who had contracted mesothelioma after wrongful exposure to asbestos at different times by more than one negligent employer could sue any of them, notwithstanding the fact that he could not prove which exposure had caused the disease, because all had materially contributed to the risk of his contracting that disease. Fairchild did not resolve whether liability should be joint and several, although it was presumed by the parties that that would be the rule, and that was the approach taken in practice. However, in Barker v. Corus, the House of Lords decided that instead the damages were to be apportioned among those responsible for the wrongful exposure according to their relative degree of contribution to the chance of the person contracting the disease. That decision did not impose a limit on the damages that could be recovered from those responsible for the exposure to asbestos, but it did mean that the risk of any of them being insolvent and unable to pay the appropriate share would fall on the claimant, and that in practice the claimant would have to trace all relevant defendants, as far as that was possible, before liability could be apportioned and full compensation paid, or alternatively to issue multiple claims to recover damages on a piecemeal basis.