PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
BENZODIAZEPINE (TRANQUILLISERS) CLAIMS AND LEGAL AID (29 March 1993)

That this House notes with concern the plight of a large number of people currently pursuing claims against leading pharmaceutical companies arising from the ingestion of tranquillisers; recognises the inadequacy of the legal system and its procedures in enabling groups of consumers to bring claims against powerful commercial interests in multi-party actions and the resulting advantage to the defendants in such actions; notes the failure of the legal aid system to protect the rights of many consumer claimants with claims backed by strong forensic evidence as a result of decisions to withdraw legal aid based on a lack of such evidence in respect of weaker cases within the same group and the resulting waste of public funds already expended; and therefore calls upon the Lord Chancellor to bring forward proposals to reform the law and procedures on multi-party actions as a matter of urgency and to amend the legal aid regulations accordingly; and further calls on the Legal Aid Board to review current decisions that have led to the withdrawal of legal aid and to ensure in future decisions that have led to the withdrawal of legal aid and to ensure in future decisions that no-one with a valid claim will be denied the opportunity to pursue it through lack of means.

Sponsored by:
Lord Boateng (Labour)