Dockers win right to sue over asbestos

Former dock workers have won the right to sue the government for asbestos-related illnesses.

In a High Court judgment in May, the Department for Trade and Industry was held responsible for the workers’ health and safety in the 1950s and 1960s. The labour boards at the ports, which organised dockers’ work, were not entitled to pass on all responsibility to the shipping companies that carried the asbestos cargoes, the court ruled.

Rice v Secretary of State for Trade and Industry & Anor [2006] EWHC 1257 (QB)