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UK govt tries to stall atomic compensation case as veterans aging and dying

Many are terminally ill and seven – including five of the test case claimants – have died since the litigation began.

MoD appeals against atomic test veteran claims ruling, – Telegraph UK , The Ministry of Defence has launched an appeal against a court ruling which allowed Britain’s atomic test veterans to claim damages. 7 May 2010 Last June, High Court judge Mr Justice Foskett ruled that 10 test cases out of 1,011 claims could proceed to full trial.

The servicemen blame their ill-health, including cancer, skin defects and fertility problems, on involvement in Britain’s 1950s nuclear tests on the Australian mainland, Monte Bello islands and Christmas Island between 1952 and 1958.

Many are terminally ill and seven – including five of the test case claimants – have died since the litigation began.

The MoD, while acknowledging the ”debt of gratitude” owed, denies negligence and fought the cases on the preliminary point that they were all launched outside the legal time limit.

But the judge rejected its claim that the cases were doomed to fail on the issue of causation and refused to strike them out, saying the veterans were entitled to their ”day in court”.

Of the lead cases, he ruled that five of them were not statute-barred and exercised his discretion to allow the five that were to go ahead.

The MoD’s counsel, Charles Gibson QC, opened an eight-day appeal in London by telling Lady Justice Smith, Lord Justice Leveson and Sir Mark Waller that a ”wholesale reappraisal” of the judge’s approach was required.

He said that the judge erred in adopting a generic approach to the test cases.

MoD appeals against atomic test veteran claims ruling – Telegraph

May 8, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Legal, UK | antinuclear, cancer, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, plutonium, radiation, radioactive