Depending on the nature of the claim, the church's general liability insurer may provide a defense of the board members and pay any settlement or judgment attributable to their conduct.

The employer's case had been conducted on its behalf by its liability insurer.

Last year, $72 billion (54 billion) worth of premiums were written by the island's biggest property and liability insurers and reinsurers.

It took six years and the employer's liability insurers apparently spent more than 4 million in defence costs.

Section 14 was directed to an entirely different relationship, that between compensators and their liability insurers.