Legal Battle Over Asbestos
A court case pertaining to the compensation for asbestos victims is due to begin in the High Court. The case is likely to ensure if it is mandatory for insurers to pay damages from sufferer’s first exposure to asbestos or from when they fall sick
The case is to do with a particular type of insurance called liability insurance that employers take out to insure them against legal action by staff injured at work. Several companies are trying to claim that the liability insurance policies that they previously sold were only triggered when employees or former employees developed the disease, rather than at the time they were initially exposed to asbestos; at the time they were not aware of the threat.
The Unite trade union, which is backing workers exposed to the substance, said the insurance companies were trying to dodge their liabilities, whilst solicitors for the industry argued that it was common sense they should be liable from the time that the patients became ill. The retrospective nature of the court case is expected to cost insurers millions of pounds because cases as far back as 1970 are coming to light.
The case is an insurance company’s worst nightmare. A painful and prolonged disease that often results in death caused by an individual working every day with a substance that no one knew was potentially deadly. The insurance companies were not able to give different premiums or protect themselves from risk; no one was aware of the dangers posed by asbestos.
The companies also argue that workers could have been employed by several organisations that required them to deal with asbestos during their career. The ABI stressed insurers who were currently providing employers’ liability insurance would continue to pay out from the moment employees were first put at risk. Unions, meanwhile are accusing insurers of trying to protect their profits at the expense of cancer suffers and their families.
Whatever the result both sides have stated that should they lose they will take their case to the House of Lords, the highest appeals court in the United Kingdom.
This surely, however, is the first of what could be a catalogue of insurance claims and court battles as every day people handle substances the long-term impact of which are not yet known. It is a difficult situation that brings ‘common sense ‘- as the insurance companies see it - into conflict with various legal precepts, all of which is confused by the emotional suffering of the families of those who have fallen ill. The case, more than any other, highlights the importance of a good life insurance policy, whatever line of work you are in. Asda Finance may act as a useful reference point; there are of course, many companies – online, and over the phone – offering a policy to suit your needs; all of which are best investigated with your own common sense.
For more information please visit us at http://www.asdafinance.com/life-insurance.html