Occupational cancer
Produced in partnership with Andrew Wilson
Practice notesOccupational cancer
Produced in partnership with Andrew Wilson
Practice notesThis Practice Note is intended to deal with the legal principles which apply to claims of occupational cancer, but it homes in on the issue of Causation and the criteria the court will adopt in determining whether the claimant has discharged the burden of proof.
As with other Personal injury cases, the claimant will be required to show that:
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the defendant owed them a duty
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the duty was breached
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the breach caused damage
Duty and breach
In cases in which the claimant was employed by the defendant, argument on the existence of a duty ought to be rare.
Claimants should seek to rely on breaches of relevant statutory duties and common law Negligence.
Typically, in cases of disease alleged to have been caused by dust in a factory setting the claimant will plead, depending on when the alleged exposure occurred, breach of section 47 of the Factories Act 1937 or section 63 of the Factories Act 1961. These provisions would avail a worker who established that he was exposed to substantial quantities of dust, although there
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