Insurance premiums in conditional fee cases could double, says law firm

Insurance companies should brace themselves for higher costs associated with no win, no fee cases following the recent decision of the Court of Appeal in Carver v BAA (20/04/2008), according to insurance specialists at law firm Browne Jacobson.

Typically, after-the-event (ATE) insurance policies are sold to protect claimants against the defendant’s costs should they lose the case. In Carver the claimant won her case, recovering damages and beating a previous Part 36 offer, but the Court of Appeal agreed with the judge at first instance that because the win was by a marginal amount only she would be treated for the purposes of costs as if she had failed to beat the offer.

Maurice Nichols, insurance specialist at Browne Jacobson, said: