In England & Wales, the position on compensation pertaining to Pleural Plaques (a scarring of the lungs) remains as set out in the case of Rothwell v Chemical & Insulating Co. Ltd (2007) by the House of Lords (now the Supreme Court). Back in 2007, the House of Lords held in the Rothwell case that companies who are responsible for causing Pleural Plaques by negligently exposing their employees and members of the public to asbestos fibres cannot be held liable for psychiatric injury caused by the fear of going onto contract a more serious asbestos related illness such as asbestosis or mesothelioma because, it maintained, pleural plaques as a condition in itself, is insufficiently serious to give rise to a cause of action and the law does not recognise a duty to take care not to cause anxiety. However, given that pleural plaques are evidence that the person who has the condition could go onto develop an asbestos related condition which would amount to a death sentence, the Court's decision was an extremely harsh one. The Court had within its power the ability to create a duty to take care not to cause anxiety through fear of going onto contract a fatal illness in the wider public interest had it so wished, as opposed to prioritising the interests of commercial companies. Indeed, shaping law in the wider public interest is one of the Supreme Court's principal functions. Surely in a civilized society, it is not unreasonable to impose a duty of care on companies to ensure that they do not place people in fear for their own lives. Essentially, the Court ignored its social policy role in the legal system to ensure that the wider public interest and the overall interests of justice prevailed over the commercial interests of insurance companies, and left innocent victims feeling completely betrayed and let down by the entire legal system.

Back in 2009, the Scottish Parliament passed The Damages (Asbestos-related Conditions) (Scotland) Act 2009 which effectively overturned the Rothwell decision in Scotland. The legislation received overwhelming cross party support. Nevertheless, the legislation became the subject of legal challenges by the insurance industry. However, these challenges were eventually defeated in 2011.

With the Northern Ireland Assembly having passed similar legislation to the Scottish Parliament in 2011, a situation now exists in the United Kingdom where Scottish and Northern Irish Claimants are now receiving long overdue justice, but those who sustained injury in England and Wales are not. Stephen Hepburn, Labour MP for Jarrow, recently spoke out about the issue in the House of Commons, calling it a €great Shame€ for the Country and calling upon Ministers to follow the lead of Scotland and Northern Ireland. He stated after his speech in the Commons that: €The injustice of this position demands much more than bland management guff about how it could be seen as unfair. It is a major moral disgrace and it is a great shame that the minister cowers under legal cover when he should be taking a much more proactive stance.€