Court ruling makes firms liable for asbestos toll

THOUSANDS of families of workers who died of an asbestos-related lung cancer will get compensation after a “landmark” insurance liability ruling by the UK’s highest court, lawyers say.

The Supreme Court decided liability was “triggered” when employees were exposed to asbestos dust not when symptoms of mesothelioma emerged, sometimes decades later.

Solicitors said yesterday’s ruling meant victims were covered by policies in place when asbestos fibres were inhaled – and employers’ insurers would have to meet compensation claims.

Families said they hoped the decision by five Supreme Court justices would end years of litigation and lead to speedy payouts.

Judges said industrial diseases which could lie dormant for long periods raised “peculiar” legal difficulties and liability for deaths caused by mesothelioma – an “inevitably fatal” cancer of lung linings – had “pre-occupied” courts in recent years.

Union bosses and victims’ families criticised insurance firms who fought the case, saying they should have accepted responsibility and spent money on compensation not lawyers.

One insurance firm involved in litigation said it had wanted “resolution” of the issue in order to “provide greater certainty”.

“This is a landmark ruling which will affect thousands of victims of asbestos,” said Len McCluskey, general secretary of the Unite union. “It is a disgrace insurance companies went to such lengths to shirk their responsibilities.”

Carer Maureen Edwards, 56, of Liverpool – whose father Charles O’Farrell died aged 81 in 2003 – said: “It’s been a long battle but this ruling makes it worthwhile.”