ABI Hails Adoption of Employers Liability (Workers Comp) Attorney Fee Schedule

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) applauded the announcement that the U.K.’s Civil Justice Council has reached an agreement “on the level of success fees in employers’ liability disease claims,” calling it a “pragmatic resolution to the ‘costs war.”

The ABI noted: “The agreement sets out the success fee uplift that an insurer will pay the claimant’s solicitor in an employers’ liability disease claim. It follows similar agreements on success fees in personal injury arising from road traffic accidents implemented in October 2003, and from employers’ liability accidents, implemented in October 2004.”

Under the agreement, the success fee uplift for solicitors pursuing employers’ liability claims will be set as follows:
— 27.5 percent of base costs for all asbestos related claims.
— 100 percent of base costs for stress and repetitive strain injury claims.
— 62.5 percent of base costs for all other disease claims.

“This agreement brings certainty for all parties.” stated Nick Starling, the ABI’s Director of General Insurance. “It is simple, and easy to operate, and will significantly reduce the prospect of costly and lengthy litigation. Streamlining these costs makes the system more efficient, so more of the compensation paid reaches the claimants.”