Below is a selection of examples of results in cases where our clients have succeeded with their claims after being affected by occupational disease.
Solvent injury
The injured party had worked in many companies over a long working life and eventually developed symptoms that doctors at an Occupational Medicine Department at one of the country’s largest hospitals interpreted as solvent injury.
NAV approved the illness as an occupational disease, and he received compensation for permanent injury from NAV. The insurance company argued that the requirements for exposure (i.e. the level of exposure to substances causing solvent injury) had not been met and refused to accept liability. The insurance company based its position on an assessment from its own medical advisor.
Despite the difficulty of documenting the actual level of exposure across many employers over a long period, we succeeded in getting the insurance company to agree to obtain a new specialist assessment from an Occupational Medicine Department at another university hospital. This assessment reached the same conclusion as the initial one, and the insurance company accepted full liability in a case that had been ongoing for many years without any compensation being paid.
Once liability was accepted, the injured party received compensation for permanent injury of NOK 96,000, past loss of income of NOK 730,000 including interest, and compensation for future loss of income of NOK 1,854,000. The insurance company also fully covered legal costs.
Asbestos as a cause of lung cancer
A 36-year-old man developed pneumonia in November 2013. Despite treatment, he did not recover, and an X-ray in March 2014 revealed lung cancer. Several years earlier, he had worked with asbestos-containing materials, and the hospital concluded that asbestos exposure was the cause of the lung cancer. The hospital reported the case to the Cancer Registry and to NAV, which approved the illness as an occupational disease within a few weeks.
The injured party contacted us in April 2014 seeking assistance in obtaining compensation under the Workplace Injury Insurance Act. The client had healthy lungs prior to November 2013, and we therefore considered this the time the occupational disease was identified. The employer confirmed that workplace injury insurance was in place at that time.
The claim was submitted to the insurance company. The client was seriously ill and had received a very poor prognosis from the hospital. We argued that the client had 100% permanent medical disability and was fully disabled. Full compensation under the Workplace Injury Insurance Act (compensation for permanent injury and general compensation) was paid in June 2014.
Occupational disease – solvent exposure
A 38-year-old woman developed an occupational disease due to solvent exposure. The insurance company initially offered a final settlement of NOK 870,000.
We were then engaged, filed a claim, and negotiated a settlement of NOK 1,750,000.
Occupational disease – asthma and eczema
A man was exposed to cement dust in his work and developed asthma and eczema as an occupational disease – acute cement dust-related asthma and eczema.
The insurance company initially questioned liability, arguing that the time of diagnosis (the first time he sought medical attention for symptoms) fell outside the period for which they were responsible. The company eventually accepted liability for the occupational disease.
When calculating the compensation claim, it emerged that the client had been offered a new position with an annual income NOK 250,000 higher than what the insurance company initially accepted. Uncertainty regarding the extent and duration of the occupational disease also made the case complex.
After extensive negotiations, we succeeded in increasing the income level to a management position and secured acceptance of compensation for permanent injury in group 3, i.e. permanent medical disability of 35–44% and 80% loss of working capacity. The total compensation exceeded NOK 3,000,000.
