1980s Higlights

Thompsons concentrates on recovering the maximum compensation possible and securing the best result for any case.

Cook V Engelhard Industries and others:

In 1987, damages of £850,000 were awarded in this case which surpassed the previous highest known award of £675,000 in a personal injury case.

Thompsons and Others v Smiths Shiprepairs (North Shields) Ltd (1984):

Test cases involving shipbuilders suffering from hearing impairment caused by working conditions. They were all employed in the industry from the 1940s to the 1970s and received compensation for the proportion of damage caused after 1963 when the employer should have known to protect them.

After this judgment, many thousands of cases were able to be brought for compensation by workers, under a scheme agreed between most of the unions and major insurers. The scheme continued into the 1990's and the Noise at Work Regulations 1989 came into force to improve employers' safety performance.

Welders Lung
A number of cases were referred to Thompsons in the 1980s in respect of former shipyard workers, mostly from Merseyside, with a range of respiratory diseases believed to be caused at least partly by welding fumes. The success of the test cases brought by Thompsons enabled many more claimants to secure damages.