A legal bid by insurance firms to overturn a law allowing victims of an asbestos-related condition in Scotland to claim damages has been rejected by the courts.

Lord Emslie backed the legislation which came into force in Scotland last June and rejected a bid by insurers to have it thrown out.

The law concerns 'pleural plaques' which are changes in the layers of tissue lying between the lungs.

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They can be caused by previous exposure to asbestos but have no symptoms or ill effects themselves and are not considered a disease in their own right.

The law was opposed by insurers and Axa, Norwich Union, Royal & Sun Alliance and Zurich Insurance, some of the major insurance names, brought the action to overturn it.

The insurers' complaints do not come anywhere near the standard of "irrationality" needed to invalidate an Act of the Scottish Parliament, said Lord Emslie.

Scotland's new law was aimed at reversing the effect of a landmark House of Lords ruling that people with pleural plaques could not seek compensation.

(BMcC/GK)