Unite Backs High Court Test Case on Behalf of Thousands of Asbestos Victims

LONDON, June 2/PRNewswire/ --

Unite the Union is backing a High Court test case next week to protect
the legal rights of thousands of vulnerable asbestos victims throughout the
UK.

The UK's largest trade union, represented by Thompsons Solicitors, is
backing a lead case in a nine-week court battle, starting on Tuesday, June 3,
2008, against insurance companies who deny liability to pay compensation in
mesothelioma cases. Unite is fighting to preserve the right to compensation
for people who develop the fatal disease, mesothelioma, caused by exposure to
asbestos in the work place.

Unite joint General Secretary Derek Simpson said: "The union is
supporting this test case to protect the right of mesothelioma sufferers and
their families to obtain compensation, and to make sure that insurance
companies pay out on behalf of the employers they insured when workers were
being negligently exposed to asbestos.

"What's at stake here is millions of pounds which should be used to
compensate asbestos victims and not be pocketed by the insurance industry. It
is a sickening scenario and we will fight every step of the way to see that
insurers are not allowed to pass the buck and dodge their liabilities."

Head of Asbestos Policy at Thompsons Solicitors, Ian McFall said: "If the
insurers who deny liability are successful it will mean the policies they
sold to employers, at the time when workers were being negligently exposed to
asbestos, will not be worth the paper they were written on.

"Those insurers would keep the premiums and escape liability leaving many
mesothelioma victims with no legal remedy. If that should happen it would not
only be farcical, but obscene."

Charles' daughter, Maureen Edwards said: "It's important to us that we
win this test case, not just for our family, but for all those families, now
and in the future, who will be devastated by this awful disease."

"My dad died a painful death due to mesothelioma and watching him go
through it was agonising for all of us. But now our grief and sorrow is being
dragged out and made worse by the insurers who we feel are doing all they can
to get away without accepting any responsibility.

"We will not be able to move on with our lives until we have finally
achieved justice for my dad."

In what has become known as the "trigger issue" test case the insurers
are arguing that the policies they sold to employers to insure against
liability for workers becoming ill or injured due to their work, are
"triggered" by the development of the disease rather than by the exposure to
asbestos. Their argument breaches the fundamental principle that the person
who caused the damage (i.e. by exposing workers to asbestos) pays and will be
indemnified by their insurer. It is a heartlessly opportunistic attempt by
insurers to take advantage of a recent Court of Appeal case involving '
Public Liability' insurance. Public Liability insurance policies are written
to trigger liability when injuries develop, but Employers Liability
insurance, as in this test case, was written on the understanding that the
insurer's liability is triggered by the asbestos exposure which caused the
damage.

Often the time lapse between exposure to the deadly dust and the
development of mesothelioma can be longer than 40 years.

If the insurance companies are successful it will lead to thousands of
asbestos victims and their families being deprived of their right to
compensation.

In the test case, supported by Unite, the family of mesothelioma victim
Charles Michael O'Farrell have previously been awarded compensation by the
court of GBP152,000. The insurers have refused to pay this.

Whether the family ever receive the compensation depends on the outcome
of the High Court test case. The decision is expected in the autumn but is
likely to be appealed by whichever party loses. It is widely anticipated that
the trigger issue test case may eventually be taken to the House of Lords.

Charles O'Farrell, a retired member of Unite, who died in 2003, was
exposed to asbestos while working as a steel erector for Humphreys & Glasgow
Limited from 1964 to 1967. The company ceased trading in 1986 and is
currently in liquidation.

When Charles was exposed to asbestos his employer was insured by Excess
Insurance Company Limited. Excess is now refusing to pay to Mr O'Farrell's
family the damages the court ordered against the employer it insured. If the
High Court finds in favour of Excess it will mean thousands of mesothelioma
victims and their families will be unable to obtain compensation because, if
by the time the worker develops the disease the employer who exposed them to
asbestos is defunct, no insurance will exist.

Notes to Editors

1. Mesothelioma is a cancer of the lining of the lung caused by exposure
to asbestos. There is no cure and around 2,000 people a year are currently
diagnosed with the disease in the UK.

2. For decades the insurance industry has accepted in mesothelioma cases
that the Employers' Liability insurer who was on cover at the time the
asbestos exposure occurred is liable to respond to the claim. The industry
has seized upon a recent Court of Appeal case, (Bolton MBC v Municipal Mutual
Insurance Ltd (2006) EWCA Civ 50) which ruled that in Public Liability
insurance the policy is triggered by the development of the mesothelioma. The
insurers in the trigger issue test case argue that the same interpretation
should now be applied in Employers' Liability mesothelioma claims.

3. Compensation for the asbestos-related condition pleural plaques was
ended last year by the House of Lords as a result of a test case brought by
the insurance industry. People with pleural plaques had previously been
entitled to compensation since 1982. It is estimated that as a result of
ending the right to compensation for pleural plaques the insurance industry
has saved approximately GBP1.4 billion

Source: Unite the Union

Contact: Ciaran Naidoo on +44(0)7768-931-315

2008-06-01 19:03:11 0374183 PRNEWSWIRE