The Court Of Appeal ruled in October in the case of O' Farrell last year that the High Court was wrong in its 2008 decision that all insurers who provided cover to the employer at the time of asbestos exposure should pay. It ruled that in some cases the employers liability insurance is triggered not by the exposure to asbestos but by the development of the diseased which is always decades later. By this time there is after no insurance in place to respond to the claim.

Unite's General Secretary Len McCluskey says:

" It is illogical that some victims of asbestos will receive compensation and others won't depending on words such as " injury sustained" or "disease constructed" used in insurance contracts written decades ago.  Try explaining that to someone diagnosed with a fatal disease caused by the negligence of their employers "

Unite is appealing on behalf of the family of Mr O Farrell who was a retired member of Unite who sadly passed away in 2003 having been exposed to asbestos. His previous employers were insured at the time he worked for them by Excess Insurance Company Limited.His previous employers ceased trading in 1992.

Excess are arguing that they do not have to pay out as its policy states that employees had to sustain injury at the time they worked for them and within the 21 month period of the insurance policy.

I will blog again with an update once judgment is handed down.




Ruth Johnson

Solicitor - Personal Injury team