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27 November 2008
Issue: 7347 / Categories: Legal News , EU , Insurance / reinsurance
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Lawyers predict European drive on insurance claims

Innocuous claims could have potential to cost MIB dear

A Court of Appeal decision may have far reaching consequences for the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) after it was ruled that the victims of uninsured drivers may be able to rely on a European Directive for claims.

In McCall v Poulton and Motor Insurers’ Bureau and ors [2008] All ER (D) 212 (Nov) the Court of Appeal upheld a decision of the county court to refer questions to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on the obligations of the MIB to compensate the victims of uninsured drivers.

Nicholas Bevan, personal injury specialist at Bond Pearce, says that what began as a fairly innocuous claim has the potential to cost MIB dear.

“Lord Justice Waller has remitted the following questions to the ECJ: first, whether the Marleasing principles applied to the interpretation of the Uninsured Drivers Agreement with the effect that they should be construed in such a way that gives full effect to the Motor Insurance Directives, and second, whether the bureau is an emanation of the state,” he says.

MIB says

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