Indemnity insurance

Allowing a City law firm and QC to rely on ‘without prejudice’ communications to defend allegations of professional negligence could “undermine the policy of encouraging parties to settle disputes”.

The High Court has rejected an application by global giant Dentons to strike out a negligence claim made against it as a third party.

National firm Simpson Millar has set up a team within its professional negligence department to handle potential actions against solicitors who failed to warn leasehold clients of damaging clauses.

Yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling on solicitors’ professional negligence is good news for both law firms and their insurers, and should stem the flow of claims about the under-settlement of PI cases.

The Supreme Court has overturned a Court of Appeal ruling that a negligent law firm should have to compensate its former client for failing to make a claim.

The Supreme Court is to decide when the prospects of success of a claim lost because of the negligence of a solicitor should be judged for the purposes of damages, it announced yesterday.

A successor practice application against a City law firm should be struck out, a High Court master has ruled, but only after the claimant has been given a chance to amend his claim.

The insurer of a negligent Italian law firm operating in London has been ordered to pay £3m in costs to the victims after the lawyers failed to pay up.

Conveyancers acting for buyers should “think” rather than “automatically try to export the risk of identity fraud onto the seller’s conveyancer”, a specialist barrister has warned.

There may need to be some coverage disputes before indemnity insurers work out how to deal with bad advice given by AI systems used by lawyers, a City firm has warned.