Our client served in the British Army Corps of Royal Engineers from 1983 until 2022, attaining the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. His service spanned almost 40 years, including postings in Germany, the UK, and multiple operational deployments (Falklands, Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan).
During his time in the military, he experienced long-term exposure to hazardous noise with weapons fire, vehicles, and aircraft and through training conditions. Hearing protection was inconsistently provided and often impractical. In some circumstances, not provided. Our client’s medical grading began to reflect a deterioration in his hearing as early as the 1990s, culminating in a diagnosis of Noise-Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) and moderate–severe tinnitus.
By 2011, our client was issued with bilateral hearing aids in service. As a consequence of his hearing loss, he almost faced discharge from service on grounds of “non-deployability” despite being deemed fit for deployment to Afghanistan in 2010. His career progression was threatened, yet he continued to achieve promotions, working as hard as possible to overcome his communication problems.
Our client’s struggles with hearing loss and tinnitus also caused strain within family life and social interactions. Miscommunications at medical appointments heightened his stress and anxiety.
Now, post-service, our client works in Higher Education, and his hearing loss continues to affect his ability to communicate effectively at work, particularly in presentations, meetings, and networking environments.
After instructing our expert military team, our client’s claim was issued against the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in June 2021 as part of the Abbott Cohort Hugh James Military Deafness Litigation and was selected as a lead claim in February 2023.
As the legal proceedings unfolded, the MoD initially denied they were at fault. However, ongoing negotiations resulted in the MoD extending an offer to settle the issues of Crown Immunity, Breach of Duty, and Limitation under the Hugh James Matrix Agreement, which our client accepted.
However, the issues of causation and quantum remained to be resolved. Our client’s claim was listed for trial on 7 October 2025 for a period of three days. The MoD put forward an offer of settlement four weeks before trial, which our client rejected, as it did not adequately compensate him for his injury. Two weeks before trial, the MoD revisited their stance and increased their settlement offer. The case concluded with our client accepting £182,250.00 net in compensation.
Our client said:
“I gave the military everything I had. Serving for nearly four decades was an honour and a privilege, but to be left with a permanent injury that could have been prevented has been incredibly hard to accept. The hearing loss has impacted my family, my social life, and even medical care. Sadly, what happened to me isn’t unique, and I hope cases like mine shine a light on the failures to protect service personnel so that future soldiers don’t suffer in the same way. While the compensation cannot restore my hearing, it does finally acknowledge what I lost and provides some justice.”
This case demonstrates the systemic failures in hearing conservation, despite the known risks and inconsistencies with medical assessments, as our client was fit to deploy when required but was downgraded when redundancies arose.
Francesca Bamsey, Partner in our Military team, represented the client and said:
“This case demonstrates the harsh reality and long-term consequences of preventable hearing loss in service personnel. Our role is to ensure veterans like this receive recognition and compensation.”
