PANEL ADMINISTERS REVIEW SCHEME FOR BULK PI CASE

ILL HEALTH CLAIMS: result of negotiations in tin smelting case

The City Disputes Panel (CDP), the alternative dispute resolution body for the financial services industry, is to administer what is thought to be the first case-by-case claims review scheme for bulk personal injury cases.The scheme will handle claims from past employees and nearby residents of a tin smelting works in Humberside, which closed in 1991, and is alleged to be the source of local ill-health.It will operate through an independent review board which will determine whether a claim succeeds and the compensation to be offered.

The board is chaired by former Court of Appeal judge Sir Philip Otton.Karl Davies, chief operating officer of CDP, said: 'We were approached by the former owners of the site, Rio Tinto, and their solicitors to establish a scheme to determine the merits of claims.

'Rio Tinto does not admit legal liability for any personal injury, and aren't aware of any evidence to the contrary, but has said that if a causal link is found then former employees should receive compensation.' Mr Davies said the scheme's rules were the result of negotiations between the two parties' solicitors - City giant Linklaters for Rio Tinto and Wakefield firm Towells for many of the claimants.'At the launch of the scheme to the claimants - of which there are around 300 so far - both sets of solicitors expressed their unreserved support for the board and the scheme,' he said.Karl Mackie, chief executive of the Centre for Dispute Resolution, said the scheme was 'a much needed application of design techniques for bulk actions'.Andrew Towler