Personal injury (PI)
CMC numbers up 20%
The Institute and Faculty of Actuaries has found the number of claims management companies assisting with injury claims in the UK has risen by 20% in 12 months.
Editor's comment: Referral fees witch hunt
Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later: public outrage at referral fees and the "gobsmacking" practice of insurers making money from passing on details of claimants to personal injury solicitors. Few, however, would have put money on it emanating…
Axa ready for referrals ‘hurt’
Axa UK’s decision to stop accepting referral fees will “hurt” it in the short term and lose it several millions of pounds in income, but it is looking to the “longer-term prize” of getting bodily injury claims under control, according to personal lines…
Axa ready for referrals ‘hurt’ - Insurance News Now – 30 June 2011
Post news editor Mairi MacDonald outlines this week's major general insurance stories including the response of Axa personal lines boss Steve Hardy, on the insurer’s decision to stop accepting referral fess from personal injury lawyers.
ICO to investigate Jack Straw’s claims
A spokesman for the Information Commissioner’s office has confirmed that it is launching an investigation into claims from Mr Straw that motor insurers who sell clients' details to personal injury lawyers are breaking the law.
Motor insurers pay out £1.24 for every £1 premium earned
One in four UK third-party motor claims now involves a bodily injury element according to Towers Watson.
Endsleigh warns leisure trusts to check their policies
Endsleigh has warned leisure trusts could be liable should a customer injure themselves on a piece of faulty gym equipment.
Penny Black's insurance week
Penny had to check the date when she received word of a new insurance policy for players of the magical game of Quidditch — championed by Harry Potter and his Hogwarts classmates.
Legal update - Medical advances: The cost of breakthroughs
Medical breakthroughs give new hope to people who have been paralysed or had amputations as a result of accidents, but will these advances add to the already burgeoning costs of personal injury? Tim Brentnall warns that legal implications could prove…
Post history - 30 years ago: Industry gets high-tech seatbelt tests
Looking through Post's back catalogue paints a unique picture of more than 150 years of insurance news, as this highlight from 30 years ago reveals.
Insurers in line for a £4.8bn windfall from referral fees
Motor insurers stand to pocket billions in extra income a year if a recommendation to retain referral fees is acted on, a leading personal injury lawyer has claimed.
Rehabilitation - Workplace innovation: A good measure of rehabilitation success
Insurers have been vocal in their criticism of rehabilitation service innovation. Mark Howard and Brian Whelan argue that, while progress has been made, the next stage in evolution needs to be a radical one.
Editor's comment: Passing the hot potato
And so the buck gets passed once more. Another week, another non-decision on referral fees. This week it was the turn of the Legal Services Board to fight shy of a ban, deferring future responsibility for dealing with this questionable practice to…
'Therapy drift' leads Axa to outcome-based model
Axa Insurance is looking to counter its concerns over rehabilitation 'therapy drift' by working with a provider's new outcome-based pricing model, which effectively offers insurers a money-back guarantee on results.
Interview - David Bott: In the Apil hotseat
With claimant lawyers facing radical change over the next year following the Jackson Review, David Bott has a turbulent introduction to his tenancy as the new Apil president. Leigh Jackson talks to the man whose job it is to steady the ship through these…
Rehabilitation - Therapy drift: Avoiding the blame game
After the heavy criticism the case management sector received at the hands of insurers last year, Lynn Rouse looks at the way rehabilitation professionals have responded to the concerns.
Apil names new CEO
The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers has appointed former Legal Complaints Service chief executive Deborah Evans as its new CEO.
Rome II – Where are we two years on?
It is now over two years since the implementation of European Regulation 864/2007, better known as ‘Rome II’. Reviewing the legislation, Kelvin Farmaner and Paul Lavelle ask whether everyone is now clear on its scope and application.
Legal expenses - ATE: End of the road?
With the government giving the green light to implementation of Lord Jackson's civil litigation reforms, Leigh Jackson details the adverse reaction of legal expenses insurers and whether this sounds the death knell for the ATE market.
Law report: Parent company responsible for subsidiary action in asbestos case
This law report has been contributed by national law firm Berrymans Lace Mawer.
Claims Club dinner & awards 2011
Jonathan Swift, chairman of the judging panel and Post's editor-in-chief, welcomed guests to the 2011 Claims Club annual dinner at Grand Connaught Rooms, London by praising the hard work that the claims industry does and explained that in aiming to…
Ford tackles credit hire fees with claims service
Car manufacturing giant Ford is to launch a dedicated 'credit hire free' accident management arm for its customers in a bid to help eradicate personal injury claims inflation.
Law report: 'Crime of violence' debate over suicide
This law report has been contributed by national law firm Berrymans Lace Mawer.
PI claims costs to rise to £9.7bn by 2014
A report by Datamonitor has found that costs faced by the personal injury insurance industry are likely to keep climbing for some time – rising from £8.4bn in 2010 to £9.7bn by 2014 – driven by the growth in the number of motor personal injury claims.