Group of insurers hit by asbestos verdict

A group of insurers, including Lloyd’s underwriters, and London market and US insurers, has been ordered by a jury to pay US$188.7mn to the Fuller-Austin Trust. The payment is for an element of the Trust’s estimated future asbestos claims. Fuller-Austin Insulation Co filed for bankruptcy in 1998 as a result of its growing asbestos liabilities, expected to reach around US$966.2mn. The jury estimated that future asbestos claims would total US$750mn, and then apportioned US$188.7mn to the insurers.