Victory for Local Asbestos Victims - Defeat for Insurers
25/11/08
Victory for Local Asbestos Victims - Defeat for Insurers
Tuesday 25th November 2008
For many years, the old Fibrecrete Factory at Chalford manufactured asbestos products until its closure in 1971. The principal Insurer who covered liability for employers was BAI. Until 2008, BAI would regularly pay out for asbestos disease victims where liability was established. This meant that victims and their dependants were compensated, including those cases involving mesothelioma and asbestos-related lung cancer. All this changed in 2008.
During the summer of 2008, BAI and various other Insurers mounted a challenge to the precise “trigger date” for enforcing their insurance policies. They were arguing that the terms of their policy did not in fact cover victims at the date that they were negligently exposed, often 30 or more years ago. BAI and the other Insurers contended that the victims had to claim against the Insurer at the later date when the asbestos disease appeared which was usually within the last 10 years. Not surprisingly, at this later date, BAI and the other Insurers were no longer holding a policy for the employer as they had ceased trading. In fact, victims would have found that there was no employer liability policy in existence covering the last 10 years; and so any claim brought on this basis would have been hopeless.
Happily, this week’s Judgment of the High Court states that the correct “trigger date” for a claim under these policies will continue to be the date of negligent exposure. This means that any ex Fibrecrete employees who contract an asbestos-related disease are still able to claim against BAI and the other Insurers.
There are a large number of people, including clients of AES Winterbothams at Stroud, that are now able to pursue their claims against the Insurers and should be able to recover compensation for themselves and their families. Indeed, BAI admitted during the course of the Test Case litigation that over the last 2 years, they had rejected 284 fatal mesothelioma claims, whose families were consequently still awaiting compensation.
If you should wish to make an enquiry, please contact AES Winterbothams Industrial Disease Department - Peter Hankins, Richard Brickley or Christiane Goaziou by either telephone, Fax or E-mail:-
Tel: 01453-847239
Fax: 01453-751997
E-mail: rsb@aeswinterbothams.com