Asbestos Compensation under threat

Early in 2001, the largest single employers' liability insurer for asbestos risks said it could no longer afford to pay out claims. It looked as though many asbestos disease victims would not receive compensation. Spurred on by a campaign organized by many committed people, and in co-operation with the insurance industry, the government announced in May 2001 a new Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) to pay compensation to asbestos victims who would have lost out.

In October 2001 the largest British asbestos manufacturer (and employer) T&N Ltd (formerly Turner & Newall Limited) and its associated companies went into Administration and Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in the United States. This was a legal device designed to protect the company from asbestos disease compensation claims while it reorganizes its affairs. This has meant that hundreds of British asbestos disease victims have gone uncompensated so far. T&N Ltd is attempting to set up a Trust for asbestos disease victims worldwide. But because there are so many of them and limited amount of money available, they are likely to receive eventually only a fraction of what they would have been awarded if it had still been possible to bring legal action against the company. We joined the creditors' committees in order to protect the interests of clients who had worked for T&N Ltd.

During 2002, the insurance industry challenged the entitlement of most mesothelioma victims to compensation in the Courts. They argued that because mesothelioma could in theory be caused by just one asbestos fibre, someone who had been exposed to asbestos on more than one occasion could never prove where he or she got the disease. We went to the highest appeal court, the Law Lords, on behalf of two of our clients, Edwin Matthews and Doreen Fox. The Law Lords decided in June 2002 that any exposure that increased the risk of someone getting mesothelioma should be said to have caused the disease. The entitlement of mesothelioma victims to be compensated was preserved.

The insurance industry has now been successful in persuading the House of Lords to reduce compensation for mesothelioma in some cases. It is anticipated that the Government will overturn this and ensure that mesothelioma sufferers get full compensation.

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