Insurer Must Compensate Solicitor After 'Settling Direct' With Its Clients

Originally published by Out-Law.com

An insurer which offered to settle directly with personal injury claimants who had filed notices of their claims on the Road Traffic Accidents Portal (RTA Portal) must compensate the claimants' solicitors, who would otherwise have been entitled to costs by virtue of a conditional fee agreement (CFA).

The UK Supreme Court, in a unanimous judgment, upheld the existence of what is known as the 'solicitors' equitable lien', which law firm Gavin Edmondson Solicitors was entitled to enforce against the insurer, Haven Insurance. It did, however, disagree with the way in which the Court of Appeal had attempted to "re-formulate" the lien to create a general principle protecting solicitors from any adverse interference with their expectation that they would be able to recover their costs.