Corporate Manslaughter case updates

The latest prosecutions to be brought against companies under the Corporate Manslaughter and Homicide Act 2007 are continuing to progress through the court process in England.

The Crown Prosecution Service recently announced that mining company, MNS Mining Limited, the owner of a colliery where four miners died, will face four charges of corporate manslaughter under the Act. The case was remitted to Swansea Crown Court where it called at a first hearing on 11 February 2013. At the hearing, an adjournment was agreed until 25 February 2013 when the case will call again.

The prosecution case against horticultural supplier, PS & JE Ward Ltd was remitted to Norwich Crown Court in November 2012. The charges relate to the death of Grzegorz Krystian Pieton, who was electrocuted at Belmont Nursery on 15 July 2010. The case recently called for a plea and case management hearing on 14 February 2013, before Judge Jacobs.

It is understood that a further accident concerning PS & JE Ward Ltd is being investigated by the Health and Safety Executive, which pre-dates the accident subject to the corporate manslaughter charges. No information has been made available in relation to the earlier accident and the severity of the accident is not known. There has been the suggestion that the investigations into the earlier accident could form part of the current proceedings. A decision is expected to be reached by the next hearing, assigned for 22 March 2013.

The decisions in these on-going cases are expected to provide some insight into the actual impact of the legislation, which came into force in April 2008.