Asbestos challenge goes to Supreme Court

The highest court in the land — the Supreme Court — is to be asked to rule on an appeal by the general union Unite over an appeal court that threatens to deprive thousands of asbestos cancer victims and their families of their rightful compensation.

In October, the Court of Appeal decided that in some asbestos cases the employer’s liability insurance is triggered not by the exposure to asbestos in the workplace, which may have take place over 30 years ago, but by the development of the fatal cancer, mesothelioma, which can occur decades later.

Because of the delay that may occur in the symptoms of mesothelioma appearing, the ruling means thousands of British workers who develop the disease could be deprived of compensation.

Unite joint general secretary Tony Woodley said: “The way the insurers refused to pay out in these cases is a kick in the guts to every family that’s watched a loved one suffer a painful and degrading death from mesothelioma.

“Insurers sold their policies knowing that employers and workers’ families would rely on them. Now they’re trying to weasel out of paying based on fancy legal argument and policy small print.”

Over 2,000 people in the UK died of mesothelioma 2008, according to the Health and Safety Executive (see Fact Service, issue 43).

www.unitetheunion.org/news__events/latest_news/unite_to_take_asbestos_victims.aspx