Trade union Unite will back an appeal to the Supreme Court over the liability of insurers to pay compensation to victims of work-related asbestos exposure, it said yesterday.

On 8 October, the Court of Appeal overturned a 2008 High Court ruling on mesothelioma, a cancer of the lungs caused by asbestos exposure. It decided that, in some cases, employers’ liability insurance is triggered not by exposure to asbestos, but by the onset of symptoms.

Unite said that the Court of Appeal ruling ‘threatens to deprive thousands of asbestos cancer victims and their families of their rightful compensation’.

The union is backing an appeal in Edwards v Excess Insurance Company Ltd, one of six test cases on which the Court of Appeal ruled.

Unite joint general secretary Tony Woodley said: ‘Unite will put its full weight behind this appeal. We will pursue it because we want to see justice done for innocent victims and their families.’