• COMMERCIAL PROPERTY
• CONSTRUCTION AND ENGINEERING
• CORPORATE SERVICES
• HEALTH AND SAFETY
• INSURANCE
• PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY

Insurance

Beale and Company is well-known for its professional indemnity practice but also advises on insurance coverage disputes in other areas including property damage, business interruption, Contractors' All Risks, trustee liability and D&O.

We frequently advise on policy interpretation and have successfully taken many matters to arbitration if they cannot be resolved by mediation or a more informal process. These include disputes between insurer and insured, between multiple insurers and between insurers and re-insurers.

We also advise insurers on policy wordings and on applicable minimum terms for solicitors and other regulated professions.

In addition to the provision of advice we undertake audits on behalf of insureds in relation to panel solicitors files and coverholders.

Recent matters on which we have been instructed include:

• Multiple claims against solicitors and issues of whether claims fail to be aggregated for the purpose of applying excesses and/or limits of indemnity.
• Multiple claims against solicitors and valuers arising out of mortgage fraud. We have particular experience of dishonesty cases across all professions.
• Claim by an accountant for an indemnity against his own alleged involvement in a conspiracy to defraud and enrich one shareholder at the expense of another.
• Substantial policy coverage dispute relating to construction and engineering works and issues involving non-disclosure/misrepresentation.
• Claims arising from the notification provisions of a policy wording and the consequences of the Kidsons case.
• Dispute between two insurers and an insured on double insurance which concluded with a successful arbitration.
• Advising on issues arising out of large blanket notifications.
• Acting as coverage counsel for US excess layer insurers in a dispute concerning complex financial instruments and worth up to £1 billion.

 Other services we provide for insurers include:

• Claims Handling Services (under delegated authority if required). We are able to provide advanced IT based solutions including ‘Claimsbase' which provides clients with real-time access to claims records.
• Subrogated recoveries.

For further information, please contact:

Paul Redfern
Partner
T: +44 (0)117 311 7470
E: p.redfern@beale-law.com