Recovering insurance premiums post-LASPO

Under section 46 of LASPO, for the vast majority of ATE Policies incepted or issued from April 2013 onwards, the premium will no longer be recoverable from the losing Opponent.

There are some exceptions to this rule, in that Asbestos related disease claims and publication proceedings still allow ATE premiums to remain recoverable. Insolvency proceedings also allow ATE premiums to be recovered however, this is only until 1st April 2015 as it stands currently, but there is already a group pressing for recoverability to continue after April.

In Clinical Negligence cases, ATE premiums are generally not recoverable inter partes except under SI 2013/739 at number 3 (1) which allows for part of the insurance premium to be recoverable where the financial value of the claim in respect of clinical negligence is more than £1,000.00 and the costs insurance policy, insures against the risk of incurring a liability to pay for an expert report or reports relating to liability or causation in respect of clinical negligence.  

Although the reports can cover additional topics such as quantum etc, the report must relate to liability or causation.

However, the liability for the paying party to pay the part of the premium is limited to the part of the premium which relates to the risk of incurring liability to pay for an expert report or reports relating to liability or causation. The recoverability of the insurance premium will only extend to the report and does not cover any additional work that the expert may do for example attending conferences and giving evidence.

There is no limit to the number of reports that can be obtained. However, if the Court does not order the paying party to pay the costs of the report, then the insurance premium in relation that report is not recoverable.

For any receiving party it is important to remember that there is: no limit on the number of reports that can be obtained, there is no requirement to give notice to the paying party, there is no limit on the costs of the medical report and the report can cover more than one aspect so long as it includes liability and/or causation.