Aside from the boom in the general personal injury area, taking in various types of claim such as whiplash, accidents at work, road traffic accidents or tripping and slipping injuries, there have been a number of niche areas with a high volume of claims. One example is the ongoing and tragic effects of asbestos exposure, and another are relates to claims for injuries suffered historically by miners.

Figures revealed in the last week have shown just how big the miner’s claim niche is in terms of claims, compensation and solicitor’s fees. This area has proved controversial also in that there have been a number of disciplinary claims against solicitors for further and inappropriate milking of these claims even above the lucrative levels of fees these cases generated. Here are the figures :-

• Overall legal costs of miners claims in the region of £1.2 billion
• 3 law firms received a total of over £100 million each for dealing with mining claims
• Fees accounted for nearly 1/3 of the overall compensation paid
•  Over 650,000 mining related claims were made.