Temple to create ATE practices
By by Christine Seib 2002-07-16T00:00:00+01:00
Peace talks have broken out between a leading after-the-event insurer and liability insurers.
Temple Legal Protection's senior legal underwriter Joanne Lane said that Temple had met liability insurers on several occasions to talk about reducing friction between the two parties in person.
Lane said that Temple Legal Protection was also looking at practical steps to ensure the interests of claimants were protected.
"But progress has been severely hampered on this issue due to the damaging approach of some liability insurers who are ignoring the reality of the Woolf reforms and the will of Parliament," she said.
Lane spoke out following Temple's victory in the Callery v Gray case, in which the House of Lords supported the Court of Appeal's decision that ATE premiums were recoverable.
Temple provided ATE cover for Callery.Lane also warned that ATE providers were feeling the effects of high profile corporate crashes and 11 September in the same way as other insurers, with similar effects on their capacity.
"We know that premium rates need to increase," she said.
"But this doesn't mean that we support the small minority of market players that continue to abuse the new costs regime by charging exaggerated fees under the guise of insurance premiums."
Lane warned that liability insurers might be gunning for such practitioners.
"There's been too much dishonesty in premium setting.
"What we need to see now is the coming together of ATE providers and liability insurers to support development of the market," she said.