Nuclear test veterans win right to compensation claims
MILITARY veterans that were exposed to radiation during the 1950s have won the right to claim compensation against the MoD for medical conditions suffered.
The servicemen claim negligence on the part of the Ministry of Defence during the nuclear tests performed in the South Pacific and Australia between 1952 and 1958. The veterans were exposed to excessive radiation during the tests and this month won a high court case which grants them permission to sue the Ministry of Defence for financial compensation, which could be worth hundreds of millions of pounds.
A group of around 1,000 veterans believe the radiation exposure has been the cause of illnesses suffered later in life, including cancers and chromosome damage.
The counterargument put forward by the MoD stated that too much time had passed since the tests and that claims would undoubtedly fail at any future trial.
When presenting his verdict in London’s high court, Mr Justice Foskett refused to follow the MoD’s point of view. Instead he highlighting a recent scientific study from New Zealand which provided fresh evidence into the likely impacts a veteran’s health would face after being exposed to nuclear testing. Mr Justice Foskett believed this would be “crucial and pivotal” for any compensation claim lodged against the MoD.
The judge asked ministers to consider settling out of court, rather than dragging out legal proceedings further.
Of the ten lead cases, five were permitted to continue and claim compensation, while the other five were allowed to proceed as well on grounds of fairness.
A solicitor representing the veterans said he was “appalled, if not disgusted” with both the government, for allowing the issue of compensation to drag on, and the MoD for fighting the case.
“Prime minister after prime minister over the past 50 years have said that if veterans could prove that they had been exposed to radiation they would be compensated,” he said.
“When we could prove that they had been exposed to radiation the MoD says, ‘Sorry guys, you’re too late.’ That’s disingenuous. It’s not right. It’s appalling.” He accused ministers of wanting to delay the case so long that all the claimants would be dead: “There is no other conclusion that one could reach.”
Since the action pursuing compensation began, 59 of the veterans have died. It is now hoped that the MoD will reach a settlement with the surviving veterans within a few months, rather than go to trial in the courts, a process which would take years in preparation alone.