Insurers Joining Proceedings As A Defendant

In a recent English High Court judgment¹, the Court (Hutton KC) granted an application by an insurer to be added as a defendant to proceedings in which its insured was the existing defendant but was refusing to defend the claim. Although there are differences in the applicable Irish rules, such applications in this jurisdiction would likely be treated in a similar way.

Background

The proceedings involved a claim by Managed Legal Services ("MLS"), a litigation funder, against a solicitor trading as Fortitude Law ("Fortitude") which had conducted litigation funded by MLS that was unsuccessful. HDI had insured Fortitude under a professional indemnity insurance policy. While Fortitude had initially participated actively in the proceedings and sought to defend MLS's claims, it ceased doing so after a certain point. This ultimately led to Fortitude's own solicitors coming off record and to the Court making an Order debarring Fortitude from defending the proceedings.