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Definition What is After the Event (ATE) Insurance?
ATE insurance protects individuals or organisations with a justified claim from the high cost of litigation if the claim is unsuccessful or abandoned. Defendants can also obtain ATE insurance in certain limited circumstances.
ATE insurance offers peace of mind and confidence to the claimant by removing the threat of potentially devastating financial loss and allowing the case to be taken to trial if a reasonable settlement can’t be achieved.
Personal Injury / Clinical Negligence Cases
Even with QOCS (Qualified One-way Costs Shifting), ATE insurance still has an important role to play in protecting the claimant from the high costs of expert reports and failure to beat a Part 36 offer.
What is a Part 36 offer?
It’s best for all parties if a dispute can be settled before going to trial. A Part 36 offer encourages this by allowing both claimants and defendants to disclose what they will accept or offer to resolve a dispute.
Why is a Part 36 offer important?
If a party doesn’t accept the offer, it could face higher interest and / or costs on a judgement than if no offer had been made. The consequences and potential costs of a refusal must be carefully considered because legal costs will be incurred from the date the offer was made. If it is rejected by the claimant, but subsequently not improved upon by the court.
How can ATE insurance help?
An ATE policy will usually ensure the claimant or defendant doesn’t pick up the other party’s costs relating to the Part 36. Even with QOCS in personal injury cases it will cover the cost of expensive medical reports. This often also applies where costs are incurred from a successful claim that fails to exceed the original offer.
ATE Premiums are usually deferred until the ‘End of Case’.
- Premiums are only payable if the case is concluded successfully.
- The premium is generally waived if a claim is abandoned or lost at trial, but the policy still pays out to the amount of indemnity on insured risks.
Free Application
An application for ATE insurance through Guardian Legal Services is free. We can help to ensure that the merits of the case are highlighted and that all the information required to select the right insurer is included.
If you’d like more information on how Guardian Legal Services can provide ATE insurance solutions for you or your client, please contact us today to discuss how we can help.
