19.09.2008

Three 2tg Counsel Involved in EL Trigger Litigation

Judgment is currently awaited in the Employers’ Liability Policy Trigger Litigation, which was heard before Burton J for 9 weeks last term. Named by the Lawyer as one of the top ten cases of 2008, the litigation comprises 6 actions brought by and against insurers Municipal Mutual, Excess, Independent, BAI and Zurich. All are concerned with the meaning of the words “injury sustained” in the insuring clause of policies of Employers’ Liability insurance, and specifically whether injury is sustained at the time of an employee’s exposure to asbestos, or upon the development by the employee of mesothelioma, which may happen many years later. The litigation also encompasses issues of estoppel, market practice and compulsory insurance.

The litigation has been widely discussed in the national and insurance press and is likely to have significant repercussions throughout the liability insurance market.

Head of Chambers’ Insurance and Reinsurance Group Howard Palmer QC leads Andrew Miller and Sonia Nolten. All three act for Municipal Mutual Insurance Company.

Howard and Sonia also appeared in the leading case on policy triggers in Public Liability Insurance, Bolton MBC v Municipal Mutual Insurance Company Limited and another [2006] 1 WLR 1492 CA, when they again acted for MMI.