The Court of Appeal in London has stopped thousands of industrial disease sufferers from claiming personal injury compensation for pleural plaques, the scars that form around the lungs from exposure to asbestos fibres.

For the past 22 years anyone able to prove they had developed pleural plaques due to negligent exposure to asbestos by employers has been able to claim industrial disease compensation on either a provisional or final settlement basis.

The decision by the Court of Appeal now denies them the right to any compensation. Describing the injury as “trivial”, the court said a pleural plaque “is neither visible, nor symptomatic and in no way impairs the bodily functions”.

“Employers, and their insurers, should therefore not be held legally liable if workers are found to be suffering from pleural plaques, even if it is clear they were the result of being exposed to asbestos at their workplace.”