11 Professional Indemnity Insurers facing law suit from Standard Life

Back in February 2009, Standard Life was obliged to pay some £100m into its Pension Sterling Fund; a sum of money which the company believed would be covered by its 11 professional indemnity insurers. However, the insurers are refusing to indemnify Standard Life for the transaction and, as reported on moneymarketing.co.uk, the company is now pursuing a claim against them in the Commercial Court.

Aggregation clauses in solicitors’ PII policies leaving lenders exposed

The growing number of claims against conveyancing solicitors brought by lenders in recent years has highlighted the significance of the aggregation clauses which are increasingly being written into solicitors’ professional indemnity insurance policies.


In cases where one firm has mishandled a number of property transactions, an aggregation clause will allow the insurer to argue that they all amount to ‘one claim’ in accordance with the minimum conditions laid down by the Law Society. Once the sum total exceeds the policy limit, as in the case of the now-closed Willmett & Co, the professional indemnity insurer can refuse to indemnify the firm for all subsequent claims made in the period.


In an article posted recently on mortgagefinancegazette.com, the author argues that lenders should seek legal advice at the earliest opportunity. Acting quickly can help to ensure that a claim is settled before the aggregated limit of the solicitor’s professional indemnity insurance policy is reached.

Will the Legal Services Act have unintended PII implications?

The new Legal Services Act, which will allow those without legal qualifications to invest in legal businesses, gave rise to a poll on guardian.co.uk. Asked if they would be happy to accept legal advice from a supermarket, no less than three quarters of the respondents were quite clear that they would not. And amongst the many comments that the poll elicited, one respondent wondered what would happen to the professional indemnity insurance premiums of high street retailers who did enter the legal world when the claims for poor advice started coming in.

Overlooked issue in the Professional Indemnity Insurance revolution?

In an article posted on mortgagefinancegazette.com, Optima Legal’s lead partner examines what he calls the PII revolution affecting solicitors’ firms. Having considered the planned changes to the Assigned Risks Pool (ARP), the effects of the common renewal date and the particular implications for lenders in property transactions, the author moves on to an issue that is often overlooked – the financial security of the professional indemnity insurers themselves, citing Quinn Insurance as an example of what can go wrong.

Given that the forthcoming European Directive designed to set levels of minimum solvency will not come into force until 2013, it would appear that until then law firms will still have to make their own judgements about whether or not an insurer has the necessary financial resources should they have to claim on their professional indemnity insurance.

Workshop in Qatar seeks to raise awareness of Professional Indemnity Insurance

Organised by Doha Insurance and led by specialists from SCOR, the German global reinsurer, a workshop was held recently at La Cigale to raise awareness of the need for professional indemnity insurance amongst Qatar-based providers of professional services. And, as reported on gulf-times.com, talks are now proceeding with the Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry to set up a seminar on professional indemnity insurance specifically for contractors.

The FSA has proposed changes will "cause" of the law affects the PI insurance advisors

The piece was written opinion lexology.com concern now launched the idea of ​​financial audit that the changes should be a law in September. As the current law, I must be a clear link between the consultant and the loss of the customer for negligence, to enforce the entire credit can be accepted. In other words, even if the adviser has acted negligently, and the customer has suffered loss, unless it was due to the above, there is no automatic right to compensation.

If the FSA is able to get the legislature to the repair order regardless of causality, the author asks, what would the effect on insurance consultants professional liability? To what extent would market PII be allowed to cover such a significantly increased risk?

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