Insurers lead the fight against plaques ruling

Insurers have lodged an appeal against the Court of Session in Edinburgh after it upheld the Damages (Asbestos-related Conditions) (Scotland) Bill.

As revealed on insurancetimes.co.uk last week, four insurers – AXA, Aviva, RSA and Zurich – hope to overturn the Court’s decision to dismiss their judicial review of the Bill, which overturned a House of Lords ruling in 2007 that declared pleural plaques are asymptomatic.

The ABI’s director of general insurance and health, Nick Starling, said that insurers felt they had “good grounds” for an appeal.

“Insurers have not taken this decision lightly, and it reflects their strong view that the Damages Act is fundamentally flawed, as it ignores overwhelming medical evidence that plaques are symptomless, and the well-established legal principle that compensation is payable only when there are physical symptoms.”

Meanwhile, proposals by MPs to pass a similar bill in Westminster look set to drag on this week after a planned meeting between a group of campaigning MPs and prime minister Gordon Brown was postponed, and had not been rescheduled as Insurance Times went to press.