CLICK to return to story index Rossing case in UK court
THE compensation cases of two former Rossing mineworkers who contracted cancer featured in the High Court in London yesterday.
Rossing's parent company, Rio Tinto, launched their latest bid to block the cases of throat cancer victim Edward Connelly and Anne Carlson, the widow of Peter Carlson, who died from cancer of the oesophagus.
The courtroom battle is the latest twist in a long-running saga in which Rio Tinto has attempted to prevent compensation cases by former Rossing workers from being heard in the British courts.
Connelly first began his attempt to gain compensation in 1988 and lodged his current claim in 1994.
Peter Carlson's widow, Anne, started her bid for compensation this year after Britain's highest court ruled in favour of the Connelly case going ahead in London in July 1997.
This week the London High Court has to decide if Anne Carlson has the right to bring her case in Britain. The company is arguing, as it did previously with Connelly, that the case should be heard in Windhoek.
Rio Tinto's lawyers will again try to strike down Connelly's case before it can be fully heard.
Both men worked at Rossing's primary crusher some 20 years ago. Connelly and Peter Carlson's family claim that unsafe working conditions caused the ill-health of the two men.
Rossing Uranium and Rio Tinto have both strongly denied the claims.
November 17, 1998
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