Does BTE insurance offer freedom of choice, asks David Greene
The increasing tendency to include legal expenses insurance in household policies highlights changes in the relationship between the insurer and the insured’s chosen lawyers. In particular, the insurer’s tendency to steer work towards its own panel has brought into question the ability of the insured to choose their own solicitor, a right guaranteed by the European Directive on Legal Expenses Insurance and the domestic regulations, the Insurance Companies (Legal Expenses) Regulations 1990. One element of that choice is the ability of the insurer to determine the rates at which solicitors instructed by the insured may be paid under the policy. The High Court has now addressed the subject in Brown-Quinn v Equity Syndicate Management Ltd & Others [2011] EWHC 2661 (Comm), [2011] All ER (D) 243 (Oct).
There has been, with the development of before-the-event (BTE) insurance (which itself may be knocked by the ban on referral fees), an increasing tension between the insurer and the insured about who should represent the insured in any litigation, despite the overriding freedom to make that choice.
