Educate me - Home insurance legal expenses & no win no fee solicitors

[iseenodust]

We are looking at pursuing a clinical negligence case on a no win no fee basis. One of the solicitor websites refers to using the legal expenses part of your home insurance. I'm not seeing how the two are related. Please could someone explain ? Is this common practice ? Would doing so count as a claim on the insurance ? The case would be using power of attorney so is not on behalf of any of those covered by the house insurance.

The person insured would have to be the plaintiff. Home insurance policies can be better than no win no fee arrangements because out of pocket expenses are taken care of.

Sorry being dim. If DH pursues the claim but the injury was not to him (but a relative), is DH the plaintiff ?

becaue any compensation would go to the injured person.

Sorry pressed to soon.

Can you be clearer - is he hoping to pursue a case on behalf of someone he holds PoA for? That person would be the plaintiff if so - your dh merely acting on their behalf.

Titchy yes that is what I mean. Thank you. No house insurance there as house sold when went into care home. So does Collaborate's comment mean there are a lot of out of pocket expenses to find up front to fund a no win no fee ?

A POA doesn't entitle someone to take proceedings on someone else's behalf. Your husband would have to take proceedings as the plaintiff's "Next Friend".

Your household insurance policy won't cover, in a million years, a claim being brought on behalf of someone else who is not in your household.

You would have to ask the potential no win no fee lawyers about payment of expenses - eg court fees are quite high. If there will not be too many such fees - doctor's report etc only then may be you will find a way to fund those costs. Also if you lose the claimant pays the other side's costs unless you insure against that and that insurance cost comes out of the damages won. It is probably best to sit down for an initial chat or by telephone or email with a personal injury no win no fee law firm and they can go through all the costs and options.

Thanks for all the answers. I think he will, as you say, have to talk to someone properly.

I realise I'm coming to this a bit late but if you're still unsure...

The Legal Expenses cover you may have on your home or motor insurance (aka Before The Event insurance) may cover the legal costs of bringing a claim for personal injury / clinical negligence. The insurer will usually appoint its own panel solicitor to deal with your case. This type of cover can be good as you often get 100% of your compensation. The downside is that the case will be assigned to a panel solicitor (probably elsewhere in the country), the insurer may pressure you to accept a low offer to minimise its risk, and the level of cover may not be high enough to meet the costs involved if the case goes to trial.

If you don't have BTE cover, then your best bet is a Conditional Fee Agreement (no win no fee). This means you don't pay if you lose but if you win your solicitor is entitled to a "success fee". As the success fee is not recoverable from the other side, it will be deducted from your damages.

You will also be advised to take out an After The Event (ATE) insurance alongside the CFA, which covers the cost of expenses other than the solcitors fees e.g. the cost of obtaining medical records or an expert medical report. These expenses are known as disbursements. If you lose you pay nothing but if you win, the ATE premium is deducted from your damages.

Check whether your firm of solicitors guarantees that you'll receive a % of your damages after deductions.