{"id":532,"date":"2011-03-03T15:01:53","date_gmt":"2011-03-03T15:01:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/duncanmcneil.com\/wordpress\/?p=532"},"modified":"2014-07-15T15:04:54","modified_gmt":"2014-07-15T15:04:54","slug":"victory-for-asbestos-campaigners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/duncanmcneil.com\/wordpress\/?p=532","title":{"rendered":"VICTORY FOR ASBESTOS CAMPAIGNERS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">March 3rd, 2011<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>VICTORY FOR ASBESTOS CAMPAIGNERS<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Greenock and Inverclyde MSP Duncan McNeil has welcomed a new law passed at the Scottish Parliament to end lengthy legal wrangling over damages claims.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Damages (Scotland) Bill was passed with cross-party support and will improves right to damages in respect of personal injuries and wrongful death<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The bill overhauls the current system and provides a fair level of compensation in cases of wrongful death without the need for unnecessarily long and distressing court cases.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">On average, 30 people die each year in Scotland in workplace accidents. Between 1st January 2009 and 20th April 2010, 210 people with mesothelioma and 58 people with asbestos-related lung cancer sought assistance from \u2018Clydeside Action on Asbestos.\u2019<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mr McNeil said: \u201cUnfortunately, a community like ours with a strong industrial heritage is well aware of the dangers that are present in the workplace.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cThe Scottish Parliament has consistently stood up for the victims and their families and I am delighted that we have come together to act to speed up the legal process for damages.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cIt is not acceptable that people who have suffered the tragic death of a loved one have to endure lengthy legal cases before they can begin to rebuild their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The bill was brought forward by Labour MSP Bill Butler.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u00a0Annette Smith, of Clydeside Action on Asbestos, said: \u201cWe have backed these proposals from the outset and this act will be of very real benefit to hundreds of people each year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Joe O\u2019Neill, Treasurer of Clydebank Asbestos Group, added: \u201cProtracted legal proceedings have placed unnecessary strain on families and I am pleased that these changes ensure that justice can now be accessed as quickly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>March 3rd, 2011 VICTORY FOR ASBESTOS CAMPAIGNERS Greenock and Inverclyde MSP Duncan McNeil has welcomed a new law passed at the Scottish Parliament to end lengthy legal wrangling over damages claims. The Damages (Scotland) Bill was passed with cross-party support and will improves right to damages in respect of personal injuries and wrongful death The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/duncanmcneil.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/duncanmcneil.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/duncanmcneil.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/duncanmcneil.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/duncanmcneil.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=532"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/duncanmcneil.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":533,"href":"https:\/\/duncanmcneil.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532\/revisions\/533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/duncanmcneil.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/duncanmcneil.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/duncanmcneil.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}