A recently published report highlights the key role the government’s LASBO reforms are playing in cracking down on claims and cracking down on the causes of claims.
Among the main causes of the plague of claims currently forcing insurers to increase premiums for the vast majority of decent hardworking policyholders who do not make claims are: a) people making a fuss about nothing and b) the lawyers who line their own pockets by aiding and abetting them in so doing.
New survey findings, however, show that, 18 months on from implementation, the LASBO reform are starting to bite. Four out of five law firms questioned admitted that LASBO has succeeded in making it harder for fuss-makers to take their cases forward.
Around 70% of lawyers also confirmed that LASBO is making it harder for them to ply their scurrilous trade. By restricting the financial attractions, LASBO has made lawyers think twice before taking on fresh fuss-makers’ cases.
Fears that HMG was being wildly over-generous in giving successful fuss-makers a bonus 10% “uplift” on damages when it outlawed recovering ATE premiums from defendants have proved ill-founded.
Reassuringly, 9 out of 10 law firms said the uplift wasn’t always forthcoming in practice, and that even when it was 99% said it didn’t cover the full cost of ATE premiums and their “excess fees”, leaving fuss-makers worse off.
All in all: some very encouraging signs that LASBO has begun choking off claims at source, leaving claims-free policyholders facing the happy prospect of one day seeing their premiums reduced.
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