High Court Confirms Miners Solicitors Ruling

Fri, 04 Dec 2009

The high court has confirmed that the solicitors responsible for conning sick miners out of compensation should be struck off and made to pay for the case. James Beresford and Douglas Smith, partners of Doncaster law firm Beresfords, made more than £115 million by mishandling the compensation claims of nearly 100,000 sick miners. The miners' claims refer to either chronic lung problems or a condition known as ‘white finger’ – a hand condition caused by vibrating machinery.

James Beresford was dubbed ‘Britain’s richest solicitor’, but his luck appears to have run out after the latest judgement, which supports the ruling against the pair made in April when a tribunal found them guilty of 8 out of 11 charges of misconduct. The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found that Beresfords had wrongly charged miners for legal costs based on winning the case. Indeed, the legal firm had entered into an agreement with another company to have cases referred to them, and clients would have to pay a referral fee – made illegal by the rules which govern solicitors.

97,000 miners made claims through Beresfords, but they received an average of just £2,000 in compensation, while tens of thousands of miners received less than £1,000, while one particularly shocking case saw a miner receive just 50p.
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