In June 2003, Leigh Day & Co recovered £10.5m in compensation for South African victims in a case brought directly against Cape Plc in the UK courts. The settlement followed years of litigation and the settlement was reached after Cape reneged on a deal to settle for £21m reached in 2001. Cape Plc, a UK-based company, mined asbestos in South Africa for decades.
Partner Richard Meeran is currently running a series of test cases for South African gold miners who are suffering from silicosis. Richard previously ran the ground-breaking litigation against Cape PLC (for 7,500 South African asbestos miners), Thor Chemicals (for South African victims of mercury poisoning) and Rio Tinto (Connelly v RTZ), for which he was awarded the 2003 Liberty/Justice “Human Rights Lawyer of the Year” Award.