Before the event insurance
We are always surprised that few companies and individuals even know what before the event legal insurance is. Subject to the usual small print, caveat and exclusions in insurance policies, bearing in mind the cost and risk of legal issues, insurance against those costs, subject to the cost must be a good idea.
One controversial aspect of these before the event policies, which has always gone against the legal principle and professional conduct requirement that a client must be able to choose their own lawyer, is that the insurers for these policies make this freedom of choice very difficult. From the insurers point of view, they want to retain control of the case and to have specialist lawyers involved that they trust. The other view is that they want to use firms who they can negotiate bulk fees with who will assist them in influencing insureds to perhaps accept a settlement of a dispute which is less than the best they would obtain.
Anyway, a court case has now ruled that it is unlawful for insurers to refuse to pay if a policyholder’s insists on choosing their own solicitor. The rationale for the decision made in the case of Webster Dixon v Equity Syndicate was not about freedom of choice for the insured as such but instead that the insurers attempts to force solicitors independently chosen by the insured to accept low hourly charge rates breaches European regulations
This is obviously a victory for access to justice but a likely implication will be, yes you guessed it, increased before the vent insurance premiums !