Insurers fail in attempt to deny compensation to asbestos cancer sufferers
(pictured left Bob Tolley)

Victory for the families of mesothelioma victims was being celebrated today as Mr Justice Burton, the Judge hearing the Trigger issue litigation, told the insurance companies they had failed in their attempt to deny compensation to victims of an asbestos related cancer and their families.
Insurance companies had tried to use a legal loophole to defeat mesothelioma claims and save themselves millions of pounds. A shocked courtroom heard a director of MMI tell the judge that if they won this case they would save themselves £70 to £90 million out of money set aside to compensate asbestos victims. This is a small fraction of the overall savings that would be made by other insurers– the savings would have potentially been billions.
Although this case only dealt with workers who developed mesothelioma, some insurance companies planned to use the same arguments to avoid paying compensation to any victim of asbestos disease. This would lead to thousands of asbestos victims receiving nothing. For over 50 years insurers on risk at the time that employees were exposed to deadly asbestos dust paid compensation to those who later developed asbestos disease. This changed in 2006 when insurers refused to pay any compensation, arguing that the policy did not cover the claims, as there was no injury until about 10 years before symptoms appeared. By this time many employers would no longer exist or could be insolvent, leaving asbestos sufferers without anyone to claim against.
Betty Tolley’s, husband Bob,died in September 2006, he worked for Humphrey’s & Glasgow Ltd. During his work he was exposed to asbestos, which killed him at the age of 67. In June 2008 at the High Court, a judge told Humphreys & Glasgow’s to pay compensation but they had gone out of business and their insurers, Excess refused to pay. Betty is now owed £200,000.00. For Betty this decision is the end of a long and painful battle: “You cannot put a value on anyone’s life, but to watch my husband of 48 years suffer such a painful death was something I will never get over. This decision will help people like me and my family whose loved ones have been exposed to asbestos through their employers neglect and have paid the ultimate price with their lives. No amount of money will ever compensate the loss of my husband Bob, I miss him terribly, he deserved more time with me, his children and grandchildren, that choice was sadly taken away from him due to no fault of his own. Bob’s daughter Christine Dennis added “ It is a great relief for me and my family that Justice Burton has handed down this judgement in favour of asbestos victims and their families. The fact that they would seek to deny sufferers and their families compensation when for years they have collected premiums is unbelievable. Workers have the right to be covered by their employers for hazards which could potentially cause them harm.
Carolann Hepworth, specialist solicitor at John Pickering and Partners LLP said: “I am delighted at the result for the claimants in this case. This is a ground-breaking decision in which John Pickering and Partners LLP have secured a successful outcome for our clients and for thousands of other mesothelioma victims.
This is a landmark ruling from the Court that prevents the insurance industry from withholding millions of pounds meant for claimants. The Judge has forbidden insurers from denying their responsibilities to their policyholders who paid premiums in good faith expecting their employees to be protected.
This case not only cost the taxpayer millions of pounds but caused untold anguish and suffering for many mesothelioma victims and their families.”
Mesothelioma is an asbestos-related cancer that affects the lining around the lungs (the pleura) and certain other organs such as the peritoneum. There is no cure for mesothelioma. Radical surgery is available to a limited number of eligible patients. The condition can be difficult to diagnose and patients generally survive less than 18 months from diagnosis. The only known cause of mesothelioma is asbestos. Mesothelioma often occurs 30 to 40 years after asbestos exposure, with no upper time limit. Although mesothelioma is an occupational disease, victims include teachers, nurses, doctors, shop workers and family members of people who have worked with asbestos.

Asbestos Victims Win High Court Victory

Friday, November 21, 2008

Victims of asbestos-related cancer today won an important High Court victory against insurers.
For many years, insurers paid compensation for the fatal lung disease mesothelioma on the basis that their liability arose at the time when a worker was exposed to asbestos dust.
But, two years ago, the Court of Appeal ruled in a different legal context that liability was "triggered" when the disease actually developed - sometimes after 40 years or more - rather than at the time of exposure.
As a result, insurers stopped paying on a "time of exposure" basis and argued they were not liable because the risk cover they provided 40 years ago was no longer in force.
This summer, during a nine-week legal battle, Mr Justice Burton was asked by employees and employers to rule that the appeal court decision - made in a case of occupiers' rather than employers' liability insurance - should not be applied generally.
Arguing that liability arose at the time of exposure to asbestos, Colin Wynter QC, for three families battling to recover compensation from insurers, said: "It cannot be right to say that a man injured today is not actually injured until tomorrow."
Mr Wynter also represented employers who, although still solvent, faced the threat of compensation claims if their insurance cover was held not to have applied at the time of their workers' exposure to asbestos.
Today, the judge gave a ruling on six test cases which means that employees can claim against the employers' historic insurers even though there is no exact proof of when life-threatening tumours develop.
He said: "For the purposes of these policies, injury is sustained when it is caused and disease is contracted when it is caused, and the policies fall to be so construed."
Thousands of families of workers who have already died and others who may contract the disease in the future were awaiting the outcome of the case.
After the ruling, Derek Simpson, joint general secretary of trade union Unite said: "This is a hugely important victory for the victims of the deadly dust and for their families.
"Having to suffer or watch your relatives suffer from a slow and painful death is horrific.
"Thousands of men and women across the UK have been negligently exposed to asbestos by their employers, but insurers have tried and failed to use legal technicalities to escape their responsibility to pay compensation under the policies they sold to employers.
"They sought to avoid their liabilities while pocketing the money."