Choosing an ATE provider

In a two-page article in the Solicitors’ Journal of 1 June, David Hartley of Abbey Legal Protection, which manages the Law Society’s Accident Line scheme, advised it will be good practice for a firm to make a note of its reasons for choosing a particular ATE scheme. This will assist compliance with the suggestion of the Court of Appeal in Rogers v Merthyr Tydfil v C [2006] EWCA Civ 1134 that if an issue arises on the recoverability of a staged premium ‘it will ordinarily be sufficient for a claimant’s solicitor to write a brief note for the purposes of the costs assessment explaining how it came to choose the particular ATE product for his client, and the basis on which the premium is rated – whether block rated or individually rated’. Mr Hartley also gave the following invaluable guidance on the insurable risk faced by a claimant when commencing an RTA claim worth under £10,000: