The court last week (November 21) considered six individual cases brought against insurance firms to confirm if they were liable for compensation for workers who developed mesothelioma, a form of cancer.

It hinged on whether a firm became liable when the staff member was exposed to asbestos or when they began showing symptoms, which, in the case of mesothelioma, could be 25 to 40 years after being exposed.

The decision that liability was triggered when an employee came into contact with asbestos was a huge relief for the family of Bob Tolley.

Mr Tolley died in September 2006, aged 67, from mesothelioma caused by asbestos exposure at Humphreys and Glasgow Ltd in Eastbourne.

In June this year, a High Court judge ordered Humphreys and Glasgow to pay compensation but the firm had gone out of business and its insurer, Excess Insurance, did not have to pay until the test case was completed.
If the decision is upheld at the Court of Appeal and there are no further appeals, Mr Tolley's widow, Betty Tolley, will now receive her £200,000.

Mrs Tolley said, "You cannot put a value on anyone's life but to watch my husband of 48 years suffer such a painful death was something I will never get over.

"This decision will help people like me and my family whose loved ones have been exposed to asbestos through their employers' neglect and have paid the ultimate price with their lives.

"No amount of money will ever compensate the loss of my husband Bob. I miss him terribly and he deserved more time with me, his children and grandchildren."

If the insurance companies appearing at the High Court has been successful in arguing that the insurer should be liable only when a worker became ill, this could have jeopardised Mrs Tolley's payment as many modern-day insurance schemes exempt pay-outs for asbestos.

Her only other option was to appeal to the employer, which, like many others named in asbestos claims dating back to the 1970s, no longer existed.

Mr Tolley's daughter, Christine Dennis, who helped set up the charity the Bob Tolley Mesothelioma Snowdrop Fund, said, "The fact that insurers would seek to deny sufferers and their families compensation when for years they have collected premiums is unbelievable.

"Workers have the right to be covered by their employers for hazards which could potentially cause them harm."