The firm, which publishes annual global predictions for the insurance market, warns ‘the threat of claimant law firms attempting to drum up forms of class litigation against lawyers is likely to continue as there are several funds looking to support such work and the pandemic has created the appropriate background circumstances’. It cites previous examples such as the right to buy litigation and vibration white finger claims.
On home working during the pandemic, DAC Beachcroft warn of the ‘inevitable risk that isolation could threaten existing supervisory structures and that with the erosion of such systems comes exposure to claims and regulatory action’. It advises firms to take their supervisory obligations ‘very seriously’.
On legal indemnity, opportunity is predicted as the ‘recent influx of creative underwriters’ into the legal indemnity insurance market will result in ‘more innovative underwriting’. DAC Beachcroft expect to see ‘fresh ideas’ in policy wording and ‘flexible solutions such as staged premiums and agreed conduct provisions’ being used more widely.
Other predictions include an increase in damages for catastrophic injury claims, following the inclusion of accommodation adaptation costs in Swift v Carpenter [2020] EWCA Civ 165, increased risk for UK importers regarding product or third party liabilities following the end of the Brexit transition period, and the growing importance for directors of supply chain ethics.
Read the full catalogue of predictions at: insurance.dacbeachcroft.com/predictions.
