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Same insurer on both sides of a legal case

3 replies

Strawberrycocktail · 20/11/2023 10:17

I wondered if this happens often and if so how do lawyers and insurance companies deal with this? There are certain law firms who take on a lot of insurance claims work and/or legal expenses insurance work. There must be the potential to have the same insurer or legal expenses provider on both sides of a legal case or for law firms to find themselves in an awkward position where one of their important insurance clients is also the insurer for the opposing party in a legal case they are representing? What happens in these situations and how do lawyers avoid the pressures of multiple vested interests creating influential pressures on them when representing their client? Any lawyers or insurance company officers have a view on how this works in practice? And has anyone been in a situation where they found out or suspected their opponent had the same insurer in a legal claim? I am asking this because I suspect I am encountering something like this in my own situation!

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CarInsuranceIssue · 20/11/2023 16:55

It won’t cause an issue at all. We act for our client as best we can regardless of insurer opponent (there won’t be a conflict there) and often have mixed clients. We also have the same insurer as opponent and they just appoint off panel solicitors. It just affects the recovery position of any outlay. What are you specific concerns?

Strawberrycocktail · 21/11/2023 23:53

We have a panel solicitor and they behave at times as though they are the insurance company by finding ways to refuse to progress parts of our claim that should be covered (i.e. they fit within the areas of coverage). We also had two experts criticise them as part of their work! They seem to have had conversations with the other side that they have not told us about, They did not progress our case for years (despite chasing them) and now this seems to have weakened our case as a result. At key times when we needed them to progress something quickly and then went to the legal expenses insurer to complain when we couldn't get any reply or action from the solicitors, the legal expenses company slowed things down for months when we told them work needed to be done on one aspect or our claim would be more complicated! They seem overly accommodating at times to the solicitors on the other side. It sometimes feels like they are working for the. other side!

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Strawberrycocktail · 02/12/2023 09:24

Is it OK for an insurance company client of a firm to also be the client of the opposing side's solicitor? In a situation where the insurer has taken over the case for example after an insurance claim is made? If you have a situation where that insurance company is also a big client of the firm representing us (i.e. where they are one of a small number of panel firms appointed for insurance claims legal work and strategic advice for the insurance company and its umbrella insurance group company? I am struggling to see it as being OK but I don't know how things actually work in this situation?

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