A Court of Appeal decision has left those who suffer from the devastating disease mesothelioma and their loved ones uncertain whether they will be entitled to compensation after insurance companies were partially successful in a test case involving claims for the disease.
The Court of Appeal decided that in some cases the employers’ liability insurance is “triggered” not by the exposure to asbestos but by the development of the disease which is always decades later, by which time there is no insurance in place to respond to the claim. The outcome means that in every case the exact words used in the insurance contract will have to be studied and could leave many victims with no compensation.
