Aviva and Zurich to challenge court asbestos ruling

Published on Tuesday 15 March 2005 11:53

INSURANCE giants Aviva and Zurich are to appeal against a recent court ruling that insurers should pay compensation for exposure to asbestos.

Aviva, Zurich - a unit of Zurich Financial Services - and the UK Government lost a key case last month in which they argued for scrapping pay-outs for pleural plaques, a scarring of the lung lining caused by exposure to asbestos but which has no symptoms.

The High Court rejected their argument that pleural plaques could not be categorised as an injury or disease and ruled that anxiety caused by the possibility of people with the scarring developing an asbestos-related disease was a basis for damages.

Aviva, which trades as Norwich Union in the UK, said it would appeal because it believed payouts for asbestos exposure were still too high, despite the court significantly reducing compensation levels and because one claimant from last month’s judgement is appealing for more damages.

The Government, which is liable for asbestos claims involving the formerly state-run shipbuilding industry, said it would not appeal against last month’s ruling.

Analysts estimate the potential cost of pleural plaque claims to the British insurance industry at between 200 million and 1.4 billion over the next 35 years.

UK insurers, which have already paid around 1.5bn in UK-based claims for asbestos-related diseases, face 4bn to 10bn of costs overall from asbestos claims over the next three decades, the UK’s actuarial profession said last year.

The use of asbestos, a cancer-causing mineral fibre that was used in a wide variety of products such as gas masks for its heat-resistant qualities, has declined sharply since the 1970s. But it takes 30 to 50 years for mesothelioma, seen as asbestos’s "signature disease", to develop.

The High Court has already cut compensation levels to be awarded for exposure to asbestos.