Rehana Azib reports on liability, protection & limitation
The eagerly anticipated judgment of the Court of the Appeal in the Employers’ Liability (EL) Trigger Litigation was handed down last month, the results of which were rather a mixed bag.
Insurers appealed against the decision of Burton J at first instance. The judge adopted a causation approach to the construction of the insurance policies and that were in force at the date of inhalation of asbestos dust which subsequently caused mesothelioma many years later, were liable to indemnify on the basis that injury was actually sustained and disease was contracted when it was caused ie at that time and not subsequently. The appellants relied on Bolton MBC v Municipal Mutual Insurance Limited [2006] 1 WLR 1492, [2006] All ER (D) 66 (Feb) in which injury was sustained or the disease was contracted when the employee actually suffered it, which would be at the time the disease manifested itself in the form of a tumour. It is worth bearing in mind, however, that Bolton concerned a policy of public liability insurance.
The appeal was allowed in
