Press Release…Press Release
(Embargoed until 00.1 3rd June 2008)
Asbestos
Victims Support Groups Forum
Insurers Pull the
“Trigger” on Dying Asbestos Victims
The “Trigger” Issue
Asbestos Victims Support
Groups warn that another test case launched by insurers could deny compensation
to thousands of asbestos victims.
In this test case insurers
argue that the wording of employers’ liability insurance policies says that the
insurance is only “triggered” when an asbestos disease develops, i.e. when it
is diagnosed. They argue this despite the fact it has always been accepted that
insurance policies cover the worker when they were at work, i.e. when exposure
to asbestos occurred.
The interpretation of the effective
date of an insurance policy is crucial. Because asbestos disease does not
develop until decades after exposure to asbestos occurred, it is likely that
the employers will no longer be trading and there will no longer be an insurer
to pay compensation at the onset of an asbestos disease.
The “Trigger” Test Case 3rd
June
Six test cases are to be
heard to determine the outcome of the “trigger” issue. The cases will be heard
in the High Court in
The Response to the
“Trigger” Issue
Many cases have been delayed
pending the hearing on the 3rd June and many mesothelioma sufferers
will have died while waiting for the Court’s decision.
Mrs. Maureen Edwards, daughter of Charles O’Farrell who died
from mesothelioma and whose case is one of the six to be heard said:
“My late father, a war
veteran, was known as “Tiger” to his friends and workmates; I intend to fight
like one in the knowledge that thousands of victims stricken by this terminal,
man-made disease will fail to receive justice if the insurance industry wins
the case”. She added “It’s the insurance industry that pulled the trigger on my
late father as they have done to countless others who were never protected from
the dangers of asbestos whilst earning huge profits for their employers and the
insurance industry”
Tony Whitston, Chair Asbestos Victims Support Groups Forum
said:
Insurers wring their
hands in sympathy and say they are eager to pay timely compensation to asbestos
victims, especially mesothelioma sufferers, yet they have launched another test
case to deprive asbestos victims of compensation: their ‘crocodile tears’
should fool no one. What is at stake here is the right of workers to be covered
by employers’ liability insurance against occupational hazards when they were
at work. The insurers’ convenient reinterpretation of the wording of policies
robs workers of their rights and provides a windfall for insurers, which is
what this test case is all about: insurers saving money at the cost of dying
asbestos victims. We’ve been here
before!
For comments from people affected by this case and from the
Forum please tel: 0161 636 7555 or
07748189837
0151 236 1895 or 07791019641
NOTES TO EDITORS
Mesothelioma is a fatal tumour of the lining of the lung or
abdomen, caused almost exclusively by asbestos, with a life expectancy from
diagnosis of about 12 months. In 2005, 2,039 people died from mesothelioma.
90,000 people are expected to die from mesothelioma by 2050 from past exposure
to asbestos since the epidemic began in the 1960s. About 55,000 people are yet
to die from mesothelioma from past exposure.
This test trigger issue case is one of many test cases in
recent years launched by the insurance industry to limit its liabilities for
asbestos disease.
In the Fairchild case (2002) the House of Lords overturned an
attempt by insurers to say that since no one could say which deadly asbestos
fibre killed a mesothelioma sufferer, no employer could be found liable.
In the Barker case (2006) the government overturned a House
of Lords decision which allowed apportionment of damages between guilty
employers. This would have meant that compensation would have been
proportionately lost where employers were no longer trading.
In the Pleural Plaques case (2008) the House of Lords
abolished compensation for pleural plaques, which had been compensated in law
for over 20 years.