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Lawyers to launch damages action within six weeks
UK - Lawyers acting on behalf of the NFU are set to launch their legal action for damages resulting from the foot-and-mouth outbreak within the next six weeks.However, NFU chief legal advisor Julie Robinson has warned it could take a year to get to the next stage of the process.
It would also take a ‘big step in law’ to recover damages through the courts for farmers who have suffered losses due to movement restrictions and the export ban, she said.
The union has retained Thring Townsend Lee and Pembertons, based in Bath, to act on its behalf of members in this case.
Ms Robinson told NFU council on Monday that the first stage was to establish who was in a position to claim from either Merial, the Institute of Animal Health, or Defra over biosecurity lapses at Pirbright that caused the outbreak.
First it would need to be established whether the losses to the farmers across the country were ‘foreseeable’.
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