Legal Expenses Insurance

[diddled]

Can anyone answer my query?

From 2002 legal expenses cover was included in our household insurance.

My husband had causes of action against a Bank, but these causes predated the commencement of legal expenses cover, so it was of no use in this instance. However because my husband was mentally incapable, UK law prevented him from proceeding with his case until he either regained mental capacity or had a litigation friend to act on his behalf. As my husband died almost 18 months ago, having never regained mental capacity, under Part 2 Statute of Limitations I may bring an action as his executrix and time only starts to run from the date of my husband's death.

Even though the action I intend commencing originates from my late husband's causes of action he was never legally allowed to pursue, would an action brought by myself be deemed as a new cause of action, as I did not have the standing to bring such a case during my husband's lifetime?

Any thoughts on this will be appreciated

[Loula]

Hi Diddled!

 

Sorry for your loss.

 

I will investigate for you and come back hopefully today if not tomorrow.

 

LOULA

[surreyscouse]

Hi Diddled,

 

Sorry to hear your news.

 

I work in insurance so I have dealt with these policies on countless occassions.

 

The short answer is unfortunately no. Regardless of circumstances, the legal expenses policy will only be used if you are not aware of any event which may give rise to a claim at the time the policy was taken out.

 

Reading between the lines, it would appear as though there was some communication between your late husband and the bank prior to the policy being purchased and as such they will not take the case on.

 

However, if I am wrong and you have entered into some form of contract with your bank but have not been alerted to the fact there may be a need to claim until after you have purchased the policy then you will be entitled to use your legal expenses policy.

 

Hope this clears it up for you even though it's probably not what you want to hear

[diddled]

Hi

My late husband and the bank were the only 2 parties to the contract.

When I put the bank on notice of my hubby's mental incapacity, they never contacted him, instead they communicated with me, even though I had no legal authority to act on hubby's behalf.

I have not, and have never had a contract with this bank.

When I took out this cover I was aware that the insurance would not cover my hubby's claim, but I was completely unaware that as a result of the UK's draconian legal system I would have to wait and start proceedings in my own right after his death.

[Loula]

You can purchase 'after the event' legal expenses cover.

 

May I suggest you give FirstAssist a call. They could help give you advice and also a quote for the action you wish to take.

 

What is an "After the Event" policy?

 

A traditional legal expenses policy where you purchase the policy and claim if a legal dispute occurs afterwards is called a "Before the Event" policy.

 

An "After the Event" policy as its name suggests, is used when you already have a legal dispute. We have a policy called pursuit, which allows you to pursue a legal action with the backing of insurance in the event that the case is lost.

 

Once the limit of indemnity in a Before the Event policy has been reached, it may be possible for the case to be transferred to an After the Event policy.

 

 

You can read about this type of cover on

 

http://www.firstassist.co.uk/legal/legal_products/pursuit.jsp#client

 

Hope this is of further help.

 

Any more required, let me know

 

LOULA

[Loula]

Sorry, another question.

 

Are you sure it was never covered before on your household policy or any other policy you or your husband had?

 

LOULA

[diddled]

Thanks for the information on after the event insurance.

One of the problems that I'm faced with is that I have been unable to find a solicitor who is even prepared to consider my case on a CFA basis without first receiving upwards of £1000 for the time they would spend in appraising the merits of the case. The case is quite complex, amongst other things it involves mental health law, court of protection law, power of attorney law, breach of confidence law and contract law. Most of the solicitors I have already approached specialise in only one area of the law, so are not fully aware of all the implications. They are unable to appraise the cases's merits without first expending a great deal of time on the necessary research.

Time costs money, money I have none, the Bank stole all our money and left my family to exist at the taxpayers expense on State Benefits.

[Loula]

Hello!

 

It does sound complicated.

 

First Assist have always had an excellent reputation and I have dealt with them on many an occasion from a business perspective.

 

I would 'pick their brains' first and ask to speak to someone who is very knowledgable about the laws you have stated.

 

Without knowing the full details I am unable to help further. Should you wish to confide in me further you can always send a private messgae by clicking on my name in the header and selecting 'send private message'.

 

Please let me know if you decide to pursue this further I would very interested to know.

 

Kindest regards

 

LOULA

[diddled]

Hi Loula

Thanks again for the info, I will contact First Assist in the morning and will try and pick their brains.

In the meantime I will PM you with a basic outline of this case

[Loula]

You are more than welcome.

 

Good luck tomorrow.

 

No need to say, remain calm if you can, and try to say things in a logical order.

 

If needs be ask to speak to someone later who knows more about your type of case (they have solicitors on hand 24/7) and ask to be called back at a time convenient to you.

 

LOULA

[drwigglesworth]

Hi Everyone

 

Can anyone tell me whether it is illegal to have more than one insurance for the same thing? I seem to have about 3 lots of legal protection insurance (one with buildings insurance, one with contents and one with car)! If not, can all be activated? I have 50, 000 on each so could this mean I have a 150, 000 to go at?

 

I tried to activate one recently (without realising I had more) but am currently locked into battle with them as they maintain the 'incident' occured before I took the policy out. I'm arguing that it didn't they're just clinging on to the history I outlined by way of background to the case before it became a legal matter. Anyway as well as pursuing the matter with them I'm now wondering about the others. Taking the matter on may seem more appealing if costs could be spread between them. Does anyone happen to know about this stuff?

 

Cheers

 

Debbie

PS great forum!

[jjrj]

You should submit your claim to the legal expenses insurers to see if they will provide cover. If they do not complain to the household insurers whose policy includes the legal expenses insurance. Alternatively, complain to the FOS or the Legal Complaints Service who deal with complaints for the Law Society as legal expnses insurance companies are normally regulated by the Law Society as well as the FSA. Or if you are seeking to recover bank charges you could go it alone taking advice from the site as most banks will cave in.

[daydream1234]

Hi all,

 

Will keep it brief.

We have lived at our house for 3 yrs and have been in a right of way dispute (we own it) with other users for 3 yrs now. They have recently sent us court proceedings claiming damages to their rights, which is all totally untrue and we can prove so.

Unfortunately, my house insurance doesnt have legal expense cover (so Im told) and it runs out in 1 week, and after looking around I have obtained a new insurance cover which includes legal expenses. I told them that I have had neighbour problems, but they werent bothered and didnt ask any further details but were quite happy to include this on my policy.

I have now read up about it, and it seems that there is a ATE and a BTE type of aid, so although I have already paid a solicitor to start a defence and hopefully a counterclaim, would it be okay to continue the insurance without going into details with them? They will be sending the forms to agree/sign in the next few days and I am unsure as to if this is the correct insurance for legalities in my case.

Any info greatly appreciated.

[drwigglesworth]

Dear daydream1234

 

Who is your legal expenses insurer and what does the policy say? You need to be very careful about clocking up expenses because regardless of what you were told at the point of sale, i.e. by broker, insurers don't have to be bound by it. They'll refer back to policy wording - which can be very vague.

 

If you have a policy and it states that they cover after the event I'd be really interested in purchasing the same one. If only to take my previous legal expense insurer and broker to court.

 

Please do advise and 'good luck'!

 

drwigglesworth

[diddled]

This topic was closed on 2019-03-08.

If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support there.

If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened.

- Consumer Action Group