Getting Insured in the age of Civil Litigation

Civil litigation can put both significant financial stress on both businesses and individuals. To ensure that you are financially protected in the event of civil law suits, make sure you have relevant and effective insurance.
When you’re not correctly insured, civil litigation can completely destroy a business or your personal finances. If you are not aware of the need for insurance, and therefore have none in place, you are putting your finances at huge risk. Imagine if someone makes a claim against you (which is surprisingly common) does your insurance assist with this? Do you have insurance that will cover the legal costs and compensation payouts that follow?
There are two types of insurance that cover civil litigation that you could experience in both personal and business situations. Usually it is easier to understand as a business which insurance you required (as it is required by law) but choosing the right cover for personal legal costs are not made as clear. It is often the case that people do have some legal expenses insurance but they aren’t aware of it as its included in some other cover they have taken out. Find out which is suitable for you below:

Before The Event Insurance (BTE)

Before the event insurance is an umbrella term for any type of insurance that is taken out prior to the ‘event’ that triggers litigation. This is often associated with business legal requirements, with various standard policies to cover your business from any ‘event’ (like a slip or trip) that needs legal action. There are two typical insurance forms businesses should take out: Employers and Public Liability.
Employer’s liability is the insurance that all companies should take out before hiring any members of staff. This is to protect your business should any staff member become ill, injured or, worse, as a result of their work with you and civil litigation follows. The common incidents which lead to this sort of legal action are when they are shocked by exposed wiring or have a fall on a slippery surface. You have to have this form of legal protection by law in the UK and you can be fined up to £2,500 per day if you don’t have the correct cover.
Public Liability is another legal necessity. It protects you should any harm come to the public whilst on your business premises. Public Liability insurance will ensure that all legal costs are covered should a claim be made for compensation or hospital treatments.
Before the event legal expenses insurance is not just for businesses. Individuals can take out legal expenses insurance policies but this is something many aren’t aware of.

After The Event Insurance (ATE)

This form of insurance is more commonly linked to personal civil litigation circumstances; this can be taken out after an incident (like following an accident which caused injury) to cover costs of legal fees: opponents costs, own disbursements and counsels fees. Unlike with Before The Event Insurance, there’s usually no cost to the successful party as it is recoverable from the losing side. With a ‘no win, no fee’ approach common, you may have to pay a large up-front cost, which is then paid back if you have no success with the case. After the Event Insurance would cover incidents like: road traffic accidents, negligence and accidents in the homes of others.

Conclusion

Insuring yourself to prevent finical loss in the event of litigation doesn’t have to be difficult and confusing. There are many ways of covering yourself, the easies being some form of before the event insurance. Often if you lack before the event insurance and you become involved in a legal case your law firm will take out ATE insurance for you, as it’s also in their interest. After the event insurance, in its current form, is set to soon be removed from the UK market.