Asbestos-related claims burned insurers worldwide and led to the near-collapse of the Lloyd’s market in the early 1990s. Now insurers in the United States are seeing an alarming resurgence in asbestos-related claims, even though its production and use was halted more than 30 years ago.

The reason is, inevitably, renewed interest in asbestos cases from lawyers. Now major manufacturers which used asbestos for uses as diverse as roofing panels and brakes are filing for bankruptcy protection. Among them is Owens Corning Inc, the largest building materials company in the US.

Despite the age of the cases now being pursued by a growing force of “no win-no fee” lawyers, affected companies are being savaged. Payouts are costing billions of dollars, and the liability exposures are rising all the time.

For example, chemicals company W R Grace now has 48,786 claims against it – an 87% increase.