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- Home/Publications/Liability Risk and Insurance
Rock-bottom D&O premiums
The German insurance federation (GDV) warns that premiums for directors’ and officers’ (D&O) cover have dropped sharply over the last three years, and are far too low. The current premium volume of DM150mn is expected to rise to..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
119 - 01 June 2000
Zurich Fin + MDU
Zurich Financial Services has agreed a joint venture with the Medical Defense Union whereby Zurich can offer professional liability cover to MDU doctors, nursing staff and dentists. This is through Zurich taking a minority stake in MDU Services Ltd...
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
119 - 01 June 2000
Solicitors may have cover problems
With issue to insurers of the Law Society’s qualifying insurance agreement, the race to pick up business from the 9,000 law firms in England and Wales is hotting up. While the big City firms will expect to benefit from no longer having to..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
119 - 01 June 2000
ILOVEYOU
Yes, most of us found this message on our screens, and of course all refrained from further investigation. However, worldwide curiosity (and a need to be loved?) has cost an estimated US$15bn.
As uncertainty continued regarding whether insurers..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
119 - 01 June 2000
Father wins parenting rights
Insurance claims assistance Robert Jones wished to move to part-time work to allow him to care for his young child – his wife’s job was better paid than his.
His employer, Groupama UK Service, refused, although allowing this facility to..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
119 - 01 June 2000
Insurers to fight Kuwait interest
The largest-ever interest award, of US$107mn, against war risk insurers, led by Merrett syndicate, is to be appealed. This stems from the long-running coverage arguments for loss of aircraft and parts in the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
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119 - 01 June 2000
Case update
Subject Forum for libel claim
Result A claim from two Russian businessmen, alleging damage to their reputations in England from an article in an American magazine, was properly to be tried in England.
Berezovsky v Forbes Inc and Another,
Glouchkov..
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01 June 2000
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119 - 01 June 2000
Awards and settlements
The case that brought the ‘Chinese Walls’ question
to the fore – separation of function in accountancy and other firms – that of the Sultan of Brunei against his younger brother, Prince Jefri has been settled for US$15bn...
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
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119 - 01 June 2000
Zurich denies Microsoft
In response to the suit filed by Microsoft in the Seattle federal court, claiming coverage for antitrust suits, Zurich American Insurance seeks a ruling, in the Washington Federal Court, that their cover does not apply to damages or settlement costs..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
119 - 01 June 2000
Events
Defending Insurance Claims
12 June • London
Details: Elizabeth Adele, IBCConferences • tel 020 7453 5492 •
cust.serv@ibcuk.co.uk
Liability Underwriters Group
29–31 August • Queen’s College, Cambridge
Details:..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
119 - 01 June 2000
People on the move
Lord Woolf, currently Master of the Rolls, has been appointed Lord Chief Justice. Present incumbent Lord Bingham has been appointed as senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary (the most senior law lord). Lord Phillips of Worth Maltravers becomes Master of..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
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119 - 01 June 2000
Legal moves
First summary disposal of libel case
In what is believed to be the first case of summary procedure in a libel case, that of rugby ball manufacturer James Gilbert Ltd against the Sunday Mirror, the newspaper paid agreed damages of £10,000. This..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
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119 - 01 June 2000
Clinical research cover
A new insurance programme for clinical research organisations (CROs) has been introduced by St Paul Group, offering some of the broadest professional liability and non-medical professional errors and omissions coverage available to the clinical..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
119 - 01 June 2000
Reserves at risk of taxation
Following research into the implications of the Budget proposal to change taxation rules on insurers’ reserves, the ABI is seeking a meeting with ministers.
Under the proposals, insurers’ tax bills would be calculated on the basis of..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
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119 - 01 June 2000
Legal advice as work benefit
Underwritten by Eastgate Assistance, Law4U allows employers to purchase legal and associated services for their staff and their families for less than £10 a year. Cover of up to £50,000 per claim is available.
It targets employment,..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
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119 - 01 June 2000
Insider trading
An amendment tabled to the Financial Services and Markets Bill could lead to compensation demands from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) against companies and individuals that turn a blind eye to insider trading or other market abuse.
Extension..
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01 June 2000
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119 - 01 June 2000
Legal claims increase
A 32% rise in claims by workers against their employers is cited by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) as evidence of worsening relations. The CBI calls for greater scrutiny of claims.
Figures published by arbitration service ACAS for the year ending..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
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119 - 01 June 2000
Public access to tribunal details
A High Court ruling means information on tribunal hearings can no longer be restricted to the names of parties and bare description of claim.
In R v The Secretary to the Employment Tribunals ex parte Public Concern at Work
Mr Justice Jackson..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
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119 - 01 June 2000
Disability consultation
The government and the recently-created Disability Rights Commission have jointly launched consultation with employers on aspects of new rights for the disabled under the Disability Discrimination Act. Enacted in 1995, this is being introduced in..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
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119 - 01 June 2000
Disability Rights Commission
The Disability Rights Commission, a new organisation (the majority of whose members are disabled) with similar powers to those of the Equal Opportunities Commission and the Commission for Racial Equality, has been set up. It will investigate and,..
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01 June 2000
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119 - 01 June 2000
Lack of disability awareness
A survey by law firm Addleshaw Booth finds that one-third of Britain’s largest companies are unaware that their provision of services to the public should comply with legislation, now in force, preventing discrimination against the..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
119 - 01 June 2000
Train drivers and safety
Sarah Friday was dismissed after 10 years as a driver, with South West Trains claiming this was because of a series of disputes with the operational manager at Waterloo.
She claimed unfair dismissal, victimisation and sex discrimination, alleging..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
119 - 01 June 2000
Largest non-union group claim
..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
119 - 01 June 2000
Therapists win 15-year fight
A £12mn equal pay settlement will be shared by 351 female speech and language therapists. Supported by their trade union, the MSF, they launched their claim for equality with pharmacists in 1986.
The basis of the claim was comparison between..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
119 - 01 June 2000
Part-time workers
Pleasing both the TUC and the CBI, trade and industry secretary Stephen Byers has announced an extension of legislation, based on the EU part-time workers’ directive and operative from 1 July of this year, to cover all part-time workers, not..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
119 - 01 June 2000
Pension entitlement from 1976, with limits
The ruling of the European Court of Justice on 22 test cases referred by the House of Lords last year offers much in theory but probably little in practice. (See law report in The Times
of 19 May 2000: Preston and Others v Wolver-hampton Healthcare..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
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119 - 01 June 2000
Tesco defeats stress claim
A checkout controller claimed that internal restructuring and the actions of senior personnel led to her nervous breakdown, and that Tesco should have foreseen this, as it was aware of previous psychiatric illness.
Tesco argued it had taken all..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
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119 - 01 June 2000
Philippines crash kills 131
The crash of Air Philippines flight GAP 541 on 19 April 2000 on the island of Samal killed all 131 on board. The Boeing 737 was on its approach to Davao airport, and had reported engine trouble. The black box recorder has been recovered.
The plane..
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01 June 2000
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119 - 01 June 2000
AIOA reports less fatalities
The Aviation Insurance Offices’ Association (AIOA) annual report shows that while major hull losses in 1999 were at their highest ever at US$985mn, passenger fatalities fell to half those of the previous year, down from 1,046 to 512. Combined..
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01 June 2000
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119 - 01 June 2000
Lockerbie
As the trial gets under way, a 12-day adjournment has been given for the prosecution to consider new evidence.
A report commissioned by Edwin Bollier (one of the Crown’s star witnesses), whose Swiss company, Mebo, is alleged to have made the..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
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119 - 01 June 2000
London remains leader
The growth of UK maritime law firms keeps London firmly in its place as the leading worldwide centre for maritime legal services. UK maritime law firms now employ 2,300 people, up from 621 in 1990. 200 barristers are also now listed as marine..
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01 June 2000
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119 - 01 June 2000
Barnacle encrustation
While this is not cited as one of the causes of the loss of the Erika
, investigations and reports are building up into a formidable heap. The latest from investigating French judge Dominique de Talance finds that the owner, Tevere, was aware of..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
119 - 01 June 2000
How to do it
So far the media has shown nothing but understanding and actually smiling passengers, whose holidays were brought to a halt when P&O’s cruise ship Aurora
abandoned her maiden voyage. The 1,800 passengers will receive a refund of their..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
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119 - 01 June 2000
Esmeralda compliance, but…
A United Nations report has partly exonerated Australian Esmeralda Exploration from cyanide spill into the Danube and Tisza, saying it had complied with all regional regulations. However, it also comments that the incident may still provide a basis..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
119 - 01 June 2000
Right to carry out survey
The need to survey land, prior to purchase, development or other involvement, is increasingly important as environmental legislation comes into play. A complex situation, and decision, occurs in Countryside Residential (North Thames) Ltd v..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
119 - 01 June 2000
Workers compensated for radiation exposure
The US government will pay at least US$400mn in compensation to workers who were exposed to radiation while working on military nuclear facilities.
The Washington Post
reports a draft national compensation plan for payments of US$100,000 to workers..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
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119 - 01 June 2000
Nuclear restrictions continue
Almost 400 sheep farmers in parts of Britain face at least 10 more years of restricted stock movement due to pollution spread from Chernobyl in 1986. Their livestock is still picking up radioactive caesium from fodder grass.
They were originally..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
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119 - 01 June 2000
Weapon factory contamination
A confidential report from British Nuclear Fuel Ltd (BNFL), with comment in New Scientist
of 29 April 2000, on the nuclear weapons factories coming into its care suggests they may be more heavily contaminated than previously thought.
It believes..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
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119 - 01 June 2000
New asbestos defendants
An article in the Wall Street Journal
(12 April) notes that as the resources of asbestos manufacturers become depleted by litigation, new defendants are sought.
One such, recently named in several cases, is small San Francisco-based Allwood Door Co,..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
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119 - 01 June 2000
French shipyard ruling
The Aix-en-Provence appeal court ruling against now-closed French shipyard (La Seyne) for failing to take necessary steps to protect employees from breathing dust during work will be influential in other claims arising from that industry. At least..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
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119 - 01 June 2000
Tobacco update
Judge Weinstein’s initiative rejected
by R J Reynolds and B&W, saying they had ‘no interest in starting a process that is doomed to fail…’ and arguing that the cases before Judge Weinstein ‘have no merit legally..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
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119 - 01 June 2000
OPs, BSE and CJD
Weedkiller exposure may double risk of Parkinson’s
disease, according to Lorene Nelson and other researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine in California, based on a study of almost 1,000 people.
The greatest risk appeared to..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
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119 - 01 June 2000
Lawsuits a pain in the neck
Research at the University of Alberta in Canada, published in the New England Journal of Medicine
of 20 April 2000, suggests road accident victims make a more speedy recovery when they cannot sue the other driver for damages in respect of pain and..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
119 - 01 June 2000
Infant heart removal
The interim report from Prof Ian Kennedy calls for prosecution and disciplinary action against doctors if it is shown they removed and stored infant hearts without parental consent.
He also calls for the introduction of enforceable code of practice..
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01 June 2000
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119 - 01 June 2000
Ventilator trials
Following a critical report on ventilator trials at North Staffordshire Hospital where 28 premature babies died and 15 suffered brain damage from among a total of 122, tighter guidelines on clinical tests are expected from the Department of Health...
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01 June 2000
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119 - 01 June 2000
UK soldier in US Gulf syndrome tests
Daniel Boag of the Black Watch has been included in US examinations for Gulf War syndrome as he was attached to an American regiment during the 1991 war.
While the MoD still doubts the existence of a specific syndrome associated with cocktails of..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
119 - 01 June 2000
Injection not part of military duties
A Canadian soldier, courtmartialled for refusing to undergo an antianthrax injection – which he believed to be inherently dangerous – has been exonerated by a civil court. They held that the treatment was not part of his military..
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01 June 2000
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119 - 01 June 2000
Call for babywalker ban
The Chartered Society of Physiotherapists has voted for their society to campaign – along with other health organisations – for a ban on the use of babywalkers. It cites research showing the devices responsible for more than 4,000..
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01 June 2000
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119 - 01 June 2000
Auction houses face US class action
Sotheby’s and Christie’s face a US class action, given the go-ahead in New York, alleging price fixing. Originally launched as individual suits, they have now been given class status, open to be joined by any other aggrieved who bought..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
119 - 01 June 2000
Let the insurer pay
According to a report in the Daily Telegraph
of 10 May 2000, the England Cricket Board appears to suggest that insurance is an alternative to helmets. Following their recent decision that children must wear helmets, schools have found that..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
119 - 01 June 2000
PTSD claim against MoD
280 servicemen and women, represented by MoD-baiting lawyer John Mackenzie who led the 1990 attack on the system of courts martial, seek compensation for lack of treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) suffered while on active..
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01 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
119 - 01 June 2000
Rover sale?
Well, we all know that whatever the outcome, liabilities in respect of redundancy and other worker claims will be part of any deal with a new owner, or carried by BMW – however, the Financial Times
(3 May 2000) highlights some of the..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
119 - 01 June 2000
Fireworks
The catastrophic fire and explosions of a firework store in the Dutch city of Enschede is likely to lead to (belated) regulation Europe-wide. At least 20 people died, more than 600 were injured – some severely, around 1,500 homes were..
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01 June 2000
Appeared in issue:
119 - 01 June 2000
Euro-road tunnels
A partial survey, a year after the Mont Blanc tunnel fire (it is still closed) resulted in 35 deaths, has criticised safety standards. A comparison, and the true picture, are not available as a number of operators – including those of the..
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01 June 2000
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119 - 01 June 2000
No prosecution/inquiry opens
After a six-month police investigation, the Crown Prosecution Service has ruled out manslaughter charges in relation to the 31 deaths in the Ladbroke Grove rail crash due to ‘insufficient evidence’ and no realistic prospect of conviction..
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01 June 2000
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119 - 01 June 2000
‘Precautionary approach’
Have lessons been learnt? Can we believe that ‘risk’ is being taken seriously rather than dismissed as ‘unproven’? Well, we will see what happens to the recommendations of the Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones.
The..
Online Published Date:
01 June 2000
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119 - 01 June 2000