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WEB FILE - LLOYD'S OF LONDON
SPECIAL REPORT
More Letters on Lloyd's of London
I find the story of the decline of Lloyd's of London both tragic and deeply disturbing [Feb. 21]. The attempts by Lloyd's insiders to avoid and dilute their liabilities are abhorrent and completely at odds with the law. But what about the conflict between an ancient establishment, rooted in honor and unlimited liability, and a modern litigious society, seeking to avoid individual responsibility at all costs? You bemoan the lack of good faith on one side, but I see precious little of it on the other. Is there equity in hounding the Names to suicide or their last penny, when the companies that initially profited from asbestos have already escaped behind the cloak of limited liability? At the beginning, the true, dangerous nature of asbestos was unknown to all -- companies, workers and underwriters -- and I question why the whole burden of the horrible error is now placed on the latter.
Jonathan Hemp
Cape Town
TIME is to be commended for having the fortitude to paint a true picture of Lloyd's, warts and all. As you noted in your report, I am one of the unwitting Names who believed that the Lloyd's mystique was fact instead of fiction. Now that your article has been published, all the king's horses and all the king's men cannot put the myth of Lloyd's of London back together again.
Elizabeth Bencsics
Rio Rancho, N.M.
Congratulations to David McClintick for his brilliant article on Lloyd's. I am one of those bust Names who really did lose his cuff links. I joined in 1984; no mention of asbestos was made to me. Ten years later, engulfed by uncontainable losses, I applied to the Hardship Committee for help. The committee took every penny of my remaining capital and income, demanded a further sum from my wife and required her to sell her house as well. We were left looking for a new home with a total net income from her earnings of £5,000 a year to support a family of two adults and two small children.
Nicholas Browne
Cambridge, England
you failed to distinguish between
the Lloyd's of 27 years ago and the new Lloyd's that has learned from its mistakes and emerged stronger from the experience. You should have waited to publish your piece until there was an outcome to the Jaffray case rather than trot out pages of outdated and tendentious conspiracy theories.
Richard S. Lehman
Boca Raton, Fla.
Roy Harris
Brighton, England
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