ASBESTOS COMPENSATION GOES TO SUPREME COURT

摘要

Compensation claims for mesothelioma caused by exposure to asbestos in the workplace will be further delayed after the Court of Appeal (CoA) overturned the 2008 High Court ruling that insurers should pay claims for the fatal illness.The matter will now go to the Supreme Court. In the 2008 'test' case, insurers argued in the High Court that their policies insuring employers against liability for workers who are injured or suffered illness due to their work, were 'triggered' by the development of mesothelioma rather than by exposure to asbestos {OH at Work 2009; 5(5): 4). The time lag between exposure and the development of mesothelioma can be 40 years or more, and if the insurers had been successful would have prevented many sufferers and their families claiming compensation.The court rejected that argument.