Asbestos solicitors rap 'cynical' insurers

Personal injury solicitors have accused the insurance industry and its lawyers of using 'underhand tactics' after scuppering a last-minute attempt by insurers to settle controversial asbestos appeals before they reached the House of Lords.The Law Lords were this week set to hear three linked cases on mesothelioma cancer, after the Court of Appeal ruled last year that where victims had been exposed to asbestos by more than one organisation, none would be liable.The ruling was seen as a huge victory for the insurance industry.But matters were held up when Lord David Hunt of Wirral, senior partner at City firm Beachcroft Wansbroughs, lodged papers last Friday on behalf of the Association of British Insurers (ABI) arguing that the cases should be struck out because they would be settled.Disputes could be avoided because the insurance industry had devised a compensation scheme for mesothelioma cases, the application added.Manchester firm John Pickering & Partners, which acts for the claimant in two of the cases, complained that there was no agreement to settle and that it had not been told about the application until after it was lodged.

Following a hearing this week, the Lords decided that the appeals should go ahead next month.

The Senior Law Lord, Lord Bingham, described the events as 'entirely regrettable'.Frances McCarthy, president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, slated the ABI for 'cynical and underhanded' strategies and proposing to establish a compensation scheme 'behind closed doors'.She said: 'They knew that offering these people their money at such a late stage was not the answer because it would still leave hundreds of people at the mercy of last year's judgment.'An ABI spokesman said it had been open and honest about the idea of a scheme.

'There is nothing underhand about what we have done; we have spoken to APIL about it, and it's not like it was put together at the 11th hour,' he said.Lord Hunt said the ABI made offers last Thursday as part of a 'genuine' attempt to settle in full, and that the door was still open for talks