BRM wins landmark victory for Union
BRM helped the Union of Democratic Mineworkers (Notts Section) and its claims handling company, Vendside Limited, win a landmark case in July after a former member of the Union was forced to abandon his claim against them for alleged professional negligence and breach of contract.
In 2003, the Union helped a miner to claim over £20,000 under the Miners’ Vibration White Finger (VWF) Scheme. Several years later he instructed solicitors to issue court proceedings against the Union, alleging that it had under settled his claim because he should have received additional damages for expenses incurred in asking others for help with household tasks and loss of earnings for leaving the mining industry.
After court proceedings were issued, BRM gathered evidence showing the miner was perfectly capable of carrying out all the household tasks and vigorous gardening, which he claimed he could not do.
The miner’s claim for loss of earnings was also discredited when BRM secured documents proving that he had not left the industry due to VWF, as he had alleged. In fact, he volunteered for a substantial redundancy payment, after securing himself employment elsewhere.
BRM’s Senior Partner, Peter McGowan, represented the Union throughout the claim and said:
“Here at BRM we take pride in helping companies, commercial organisations and trade unions on a range of disputes and problems. In this case serious allegations of professional negligence were made which had the potential to do great harm to the reputation of my Union client. The financial impact could have been enormous, not only to the Union as an organisation but also to the members it serves.
For these reasons, I am satisfied that we helped secure the right outcome which, importantly, includes an order that all my client’s legal costs must be paid by the Claimant”.
For more information about BRM’s commercial law services, telephone us on 01246 555111 or email using our website contact form
