Large loss
Expert, experienced legal service dealing with claims
involving injuries of the utmost severity and more complex
technical insurance work.
When it comes to settling large loss claims,
the stakes are, by definition, very high. With the sums involved
and the inherent complexity of the individual cases, the level of
legal and negotiating skills required must be correspondingly high
if successful outcomes are to be achieved.
Weightmans’ Large Loss team handles claims
reserved at a minimum of £500,000, representing around £750 million
of client reserves. The majority of claims we deal with are motor,
but we also cover employers’ liability, public liability and
product liability, as well as substantial dependency fatality
claims. Typical cases involve brain, spinal and amputation
injuries.
Our approach is focused totally on your
objectives as a client. Because each claim is unique, we devise a
bespoke strategy and individual tactical action plan to achieve an
early and fair claims resolution. At the same time, we ensure that
the claimant’s immediate and rehabilitative needs are met, working
with their solicitor to ensure a combined approach.
We manage every claim proactively and
co-operatively, with our team working alongside yours from first
notification. We maintain a dedicated database of experts and
counsel and advise on the use of your own database if required.
We obtain detailed information in order to
inform early reserving and where appropriate, to enable early
settlement offers to be made. We then prepare a detailed reserve
calculation in accordance with your reserving guidelines, together
with a detailed action plan, and conduct regular reviews to reflect
any new evidence that becomes available.
Depending on the circumstances of each case,
we recommend strategies on specific issues, such as interim
payments and funding contributions from the relevant Local
Authority and/or Primary Care Trust.
We also advise on the best way to make a
settlement offer, e.g. by round table conference, time-limited
without prejudice offers, Part 36 offers etc. This includes
consideration of the format of any offers, including periodical
payments, combined periodical payments and lump sum offers, top-up
only offers for future losses, reverse indemnities etc. Where
appropriate, we advise on the potential cost of impaired life
annuity purchase versus self funding, including issues of
security.
A significant number of the claims we handle
include non-indemnity and technical issues. We advise the insurance
market on these issues, including advice on policy interpretation
and insurers’ obligations under the Road Traffic Act and Article
75. We have been advising the Motor Insurers’ Bureau since the
early 1990s, and we are one of only three main panel firms retained
following the Bureau’s tender process in late 2006.
"David Holt..garners peers' admiration for his ability
to comprehend and process the nuances of complex arguments"
Chambers 2006
