Liability insurance: aggregation of claims

In Lord Bishop of Leeds and Another v Dixon Coles and Gill (a firm) and Others [2020] EWHC 2809 (Ch) HHJ Saffman analysed the wording of the Solicitors Regulatory Authority Indemnity Insurance Rules 2013 whereby solicitors are required to carry insurance of at least £2 million per claim under wording complying with the Minimum Terms and Conditions of Professional Indemnity Insurance.

The question was whether long-standing and systematic fraud by one of the partners in a firm of solicitors had given rise to claims arising from “one series of related acts or omissions” for the purposes of the aggregation clause in the insurance.