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Court increases compensation to family of mesothelioma victim

The Supreme Court has increased the compensation paid to the family of a woman who died from mesothelioma.

In doing so it rejected what it described as an illogical approach to calculating payments.

The case involved a woman who died at the age of 46 after contracting mesothelioma while working for the Ministry of Justice.

The compensation to be paid to her family was calculated using a complicated formula taking into account several factors including loss of future earnings based on normal life expectancy.

The judge held that compensation should be calculated from the date of death rather than the date of the trial. The family appealed on the basis that this reduced the sum payable by approximately £53,000.

The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which has ruled in the family’s favour.

It said that although using the date of death for calculations had been established in previous court cases, it was illogical and deprived claimants of significant sums of money.

The ruling means the family will receive the extra £53,000. It will also set a precedent for the way similar cases are dealt with in the future.

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