The legal playing field between insurers and insured could become a lot more even with the launch of a new product from Fenchurch Law.
The legal firm has launched Fenchurch Law Unlimited, a package sold via brokers alongside policies and is designed to give customers legal support should they have a claims dispute with an insurer.
“We’re trying to address the problem that a policyholder could buy an insurance policy, it doesn’t pay out and then they may be unable to challenge their insurer on an equal commercial footing,” managing partner of Fenchurch Law David Pryce said to
Insurance Business UK.
“With the Insurance Act coming in, that seemed to us to be doing an awful lot to help to level the legal playing field between policyholders and insurers. The legal playing field hasn’t been great for policyholders for a number of years, buts it’s now going to be better than it ever has been, but there’s still a huge commercial inequality. For the last 18 months we’ve been working on a solution to that problem.”
The package is designed to be sold by brokers alongside existing insurance packages, and buyers have access to unlimited legal advice and representation supported by After the Event insurance.
Pryce said the law firm considered a number of ways they could support policyholders, and ultimately settled on one which holds the legal provider to a service, rather than another insurance policy.
“There’s effectively no merits test for the legal advice you get from us in relation to your insurance policy,” said Pryce. The allows for customers to query their policies, even if nothing comes of it, but the product will ramp if a claim escalates.
“If you do have a dispute with your insurer where you do actually need to take formal action, so litigation or arbitration, then you get access to various other features of the service which include After the Event Insurance, disbursement funding and council fees,” said Pryce.
The cost for the service is a single upfront fee based on 1% of the premium of the relative insurance policy.
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