There are plenty of legal dramas to fill the TV guide – think Suits, The Lincoln Lawyer, and The Split to name a few. The latest to join those ranks is based on a Corby case over the ‘causal link’ between a council’s negligence in cleaning up contamination from a former British Steel site and birth defects in children caused by their mothers’ exposure to toxic waste while pregnant.
Des Collins, senior partner of Watford-based firm Collins Solicitors, was invited with colleagues to the BAFTA screening of the Netflix docudrama Toxic Town. Collins is played by Olivier Award-winning actor Rory Kinnear in the show.
Obiter is sure it is not an eventuality any of the firm had been able to imagine while neck deep working on the case, which ran for more than 11 years.
In 2009, the High Court found Corby Borough Council breached its duty of care to families living and working near the former steel site in Corby in its negligent reclamation of the site. The following year, the local authority apologised to the 19 families and provided compensation, without accepting fault.
Collins said: ‘I’m delighted for the families that Netflix has brought this environmental scandal to greater public prominence. I’m honoured to support the families’ recognition, by both Netflix and BAFTA, of their enduring emotional and physical struggles.’
The series is available now.
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