Four Devereux Chambers Counsel involved in “EL Trigger” Insurance Appeal
What was heralded as one of the Lawyer Magazine ‘Top Trials for 2008’ has now moved on to a 3 week Court of Appeal hearing beginning on 9 November. Burton J’s 2008 judgment in the Employers’ Liability Insurance Policy ‘Trigger’ litigation determined that insurers were wrong to reject claims under employers' liability policies arising from claims by mesothelioma victims exposed to asbestos during their employment.
The various test cases were heard together to resolve an important dispute over the relevant ‘trigger’ under various employers’ liability insurance policies which applied to employers of those who suffered and died from mesothelioma. The EL Trigger trial focused on what had to happen during the period of insurance when the insuring clause of a policy stipulated either that an injury must be "sustained” or that a disease must be "contracted” during the period of insurance. The insurers will argue on appeal that the relevant ‘trigger’ under the policies is not the exposure to asbestos, but the development, many years later, of mesothelioma. Devereux Chambers has four counsel involved: Head of Chambers Colin Edelman QC appears for one of the lead insurers spearheading the appeal, while Colin Wynter QC is on the other side of the argument acting for a number of the claimants, leading Richard Harrison and Andrew Burns.
The EL Trigger litigation has been widely reported and commented on in the media including by:
The Times
The Financial Times
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