Plan to appeal asbestos ruling

Lawyers plan to appeal a High Court ruling that could force asbestos victims and their families to return lump-sum compensation payments from ACC.

Justice Goddard has overturned a District Court decision, which ordered ACC to pay nearly $100,000 to the estate of Auckland man Ross Lehmann - the landmark case cleared the way for people exposed to asbestos before April 1, 2002 to seek lump-sum payments.

Mr Lehmann, a retired fitter and welder, died in November 2003 aged 79, about a year after being diagnosed with asbestos-related lung cancer.

ACC appealed the decision and said lump-sum payments applied only when the person suffered injury or exposure after April 1, 2002.

In the High Court at Wellington, Justice Goddard upheld the appeal and said under current law claimants like Mr Lehmann were entitled only to a lifetime allowance of $67 a week.

"If there is a perceived injustice in that situation, it can be remedied only by legislative amendment."

Lawyer Hazel Armstrong, who represented Mr Lehmann's widow and is working for 11 other asbestos claimants, said 26 "working-class" families had been awarded lump-sum payments totalling about $2.5 million. She questioned whether ACC would try to get the money back in an election year and urged them to wait until the case was heard in the Court of Appeal.

"It would be unseemly to be taking the compensation from widows when there's a possibility they [ACC] may have to hand it back."

Mr Lehmann's widow, Dawn, said the High Court decision was "absolutely disgusting", especially when prisoners were being paid compensation for alleged ill-treatment.