Court overturns Senior Cost Judge’s decision to slash ATE premium by 60% – Litigation Futures

Posted July 7th, 2016 in appeals, costs, insurance, local government, news, personal injuries by sally

‘The Senior Costs Judge fell into the trap of considering an individual after-the-event (ATE) insurance premium rather than the basket of risk when he slashed a premium by 60% because he considered it unreasonably high, a senior circuit judge has ruled.’

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Litigation Futures, 6th July 2016

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

Bar Mutual ordered to reimburse barrister after withdrawing funding over panel firm dispute – Legal Futures

‘The Bar’s professional indemnity insurer has been ordered to reimburse a barrister after it withdrew funding for him to defend disciplinary proceedings because he wanted to appoint a non-panel solicitor.’

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Legal Futures, 24th June 2016

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

PI lawyers call for independent probe on insurance fraud total – Law Society’s Gazette

Posted June 6th, 2016 in fraud, insurance, news, personal injuries by sally

‘Personal injury lawyers are urging the government to commission independent research about insurance fraud, disputing figures cited by the Ministry of Justice in its call for solicitors to act urgently to tackle the problem.’

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Law Society’s Gazette, 3rd June 2016

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Staking a claim – New Law Journal

‘Kerry Underwood concludes his 60th birthday tour with a master class on small claims, portals & Pt 36.’

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New Law Journal, 3rd June 2016

Source: www.newlawjournal.co.uk

End of LASPO exemption for insolvency “will lead to unscrupulous behaviour” – Litigation Futures

Posted June 3rd, 2016 in company directors, fees, insolvency, insurance, news by sally

‘Most insolvency practitioners and lawyers believe the end of the exemption for insolvency litigation from the abolition of recoverable success fees and insurance premiums in conditional fee cases will lead to “unscrupulous or illegal behaviour” by company directors, a survey has found.’

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Litigation Futures, 3rd June 2016

Source: www.litigationfutures.co.uk

Winners and Losers in the Permanent Health Insurance Game – Henderson Chambers

Posted June 2nd, 2016 in employment, health, insurance, news, redundancy by sally

‘Permanent health insurance (PHI), also and probably more accurately known or described as Income Protection Insurance (IPI), can solve the problem of income protection when an employee is ill for a period beyond that where income is directly maintained by the employer. The employee has time to recover and the employer is relieved of the expense of paying the non-productive employee. But it is not always a Win-Win situation, particularly where there comes a parting of the ways between employer and employee.’

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Henderson Chambers, 31st March 2016

Source: www.hendersonchambers.co.uk

A series of unfortunate events – Hardwicke Chambers

Posted June 2nd, 2016 in holidays, insurance, interpretation, law firms, negligence, news, solicitors by sally

‘Judges occasionally lighten their judgments with literary references. The quotation from Alice in Wonderland “Words mean what I want them to mean” is a favourite in cases involving the interpretation of contracts, and Shakespeare appears fairly regularly.’

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Hardwicke Chambers, 23rd May 2016

Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk

Whiplash: George Osborne’s Modest Proposal – Cloisters

Posted June 2nd, 2016 in compensation, consultations, damages, fraud, insurance, news, personal injuries by sally

‘In his 2015 autumn statement the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt. Hon George Osborne MP, announced that to make it “harder for people to claim compensation for exaggerated or fraudulent whiplash claims, the government is ending the right to cash compensation”.[1] The proposal will remove the right of individuals to claim ‘general damages’ for minor whiplash injuries, compensation for injury, pain and suffering. However, the victims of such injury will still have the right to claim compensation for financial losses such as the costs of medical treatment or loss of earnings.’

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Cloisters, 24th May 2016

Source: www.cloisters.com

Rule committee rejects standalone introduction of fixed fees for costs-only proceedings – Litigation Futures

Posted June 2nd, 2016 in civil procedure rules, costs, fees, insurance, legal profession, news by sally

‘The Civil Procedure Rule Committee (CPRC) has deflected a call by the Forum of Insurance Lawyers (FOIL) to introduce fixed costs in costs-only proceedings, saying that the issue should form part of the wider reform agenda.’

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Litigation Futures, 2nd June 2016

Source: www.litigationfutures.co.uk

Government eyes stronger powers to discipline solicitors as part of insurance fraud crackdown – Legal Futures

Posted May 27th, 2016 in fraud, insurance, news, solicitors by sally

‘The government yesterday accepted recommendations for stronger fining powers for the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), a lower burden of proof before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT), and the need to introduce further measures to discourage ‘late’ personal injury claims, in the next stage of its crackdown on fraudulent behaviour.’

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Legal Futures, 27th May 2016

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

PPI victims ‘should have got £5bn more’ – BBC News

Posted May 13th, 2016 in compensation, consumer protection, insurance, news by sally

‘Twelve million consumers who were mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) should have got an extra £5bn, a group of MPs has said. That is the total amount that claims management companies charged clients to process their complaints.
MPs on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said they were disappointed the money did not go to the victims of the scandal.’

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BBC News, 13th May 2016

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

APIL 2016: no retreat on personal injury reform, says justice minister – Law Society’s Gazette

Posted May 5th, 2016 in consultations, damages, insurance, news, personal injuries, small claims by sally

‘Justice minister Lord Faulks today indicated that there will be no retreat on far-reaching and controversial plans to reform the personal injury sector.’

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Law Society’s Gazette, 4th May 2016

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Claim against MIB does not have protection of QOCS, High Court rules – Litigation Futures

‘A claim against the Motor Insurance Bureau (MIB) by the victim of an accident in France does not have the protection of qualified one-way costs shifting (QOCS), the High Court has ruled.

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Litigation Futures, 26th April 2016

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

CA: judge wrong to move hire costs dispute from RTA process to small claims court – Litigation Futures

Posted April 25th, 2016 in appeals, costs, damages, fees, insurance, news, road traffic, small claims by sally

‘A district judge was wrong to move a dispute over hire car costs from stage 3 of the RTA protocol to the small claims court, the Court of Appeal has ruled.’

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Litigation Futures, 22nd April 2016

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

Court of Appeal orders retrial over aggregation of claims against solicitors – Legal Futures

Posted April 19th, 2016 in appeals, insurance, law firms, news, retrials, solicitors by sally

‘The Court of Appeal has overturned a High Court ruling that had protected law firms from financial risk through restricting the way professional indemnity insurers could aggregate multiple claims.’

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Legal Futures, 14th April 2016

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Court heaps landmark contempt sentence on whiplash cheat – Litigation Futures

‘A semi-professional footballer who brought a fake whiplash claim has suffered twice over after a four-month suspended sentence for contempt was heaped on an £11,000 costs order for bringing a fundamentally dishonest claim.’

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Litigation Futures, 19th April 2016

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

Court of Appeal orders retrial over aggregation of claims against solicitors – Legal Futures

Posted April 15th, 2016 in appeals, contracts, indemnities, insurance, law firms, news, retrials, third parties by sally

‘The Court of Appeal has overturned a High Court ruling that had protected law firms from financial risk through restricting the way professional indemnity insurers could aggregate multiple claims.’

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Legal Futures, 14th April 2016

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Howe v Motor Insurers’ Bureau – WLR Daily

Howe v Motor Insurers’ Bureau [2016] EWHC 640 (QB)

‘Regulation 13(1) of the Motor Vehicles (Compulsory Insurance) (Information Centre and Compensation Body) Regulations 2003 provides: “(1) This regulation applies where— (a) an accident, caused by or arising out of the use of a vehicle which is normally based in an EEA state, occurs on the territory of— (i) an EEA state other than the United Kingdom, or (ii) a subscribing state, and an injured party resides in the United Kingdom, (b) that injured party has made a request for information under regulation 9(2), and (c) it has proved impossible— (i) to identify the vehicle the use of which is alleged to have been responsible for the accident, or (ii) within a period of two months after the date of the request, to identify an insurance undertaking which insures the use of the vehicle.”’

WLR Daily, 22nd March 2016

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

New flood protections give rise to conveyancing fears – Law Society’s Gazette

Posted April 5th, 2016 in conveyancing, insurance, news, water by sally

‘New flood protections for homeowners will make the conveyancing process more complex, solicitors have been warned.’

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Law Society’s Gazette, 4th April 2016

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Court of Appeal case: Gentry v Miller & UKI [2016] EWCA Civ 141 – Park Square Barristers

Posted March 22nd, 2016 in appeals, default judgments, delay, fraud, insurance, news by sally

‘This Claim concerns an alleged road traffic accident on 17th March 2013 when UKI’s insured, Mr Miller, is alleged to have negligently driven into Mr Gentry causing him personal injuries and losses. UKI received no co-operation from Mr Miller, but in February 2014 discovered that he knows Mr Gentry. This then formed the basis of an allegation of a fraudulent collusion and the desire for UKI to put and argue this allegation of fraud at Trial.’

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Park Square Barristers, 14th March 2016

Source: www.parksquarebarristers.co.uk