INSURANCE TRACING SERVICE

Transcription

1 INSURANCE TRACING SERVICE

2 BLM Insurance Tracing Service (ITS) BLM s disease practice group has put together a team with expertise to assist customers with tracing past insurance coverage; a specialist service that is capable of taking investigations beyond what is currently available from ELTO and beyond the searches that would be undertaken by a case handler. Historic insurance can prove time consuming and difficult to trace. The inevitable fallout from the amalgamation of legacy insurers is that historical records are disjointed or incomplete. The key to successfully tracing historical insurance lies with the enquirer; the ITS may be able to use additional search material to secure a positive trace using these attributes: Expertise, including close current working knowledge of liability claims Practical experience from an insurance management level at one of the UK s largest insurance offices Current know how of the operation and limitations of the ELTO tracing facility and how to circumnavigate the limitations of the facility Our team of experienced insurance professionals offer fresh eyes to provide an insight into the resolution of difficult EL/PL tracing enquiries Using our close knowledge of ELTO, we can try to see from what is available whether the negative search could be modified to achieve a better result We will provide an insight into the resolution of difficult EL and PL tracing enquiries using other obtainable data streams, public records, investigations into company histories and group structures including subscription only enquiries We will review historical records in order to establish a definitive company history to ensure that policies capture the company in question We will capture whatever historical information is available to us using our inside knowledge and many years of experience of the insurance market The team Michelle Penn leads BLM s occupational disease team in London. She joined BLM as a senior solicitor and became a partner in 2003 and specialises in defending a broad range of disease claims for a variety of customers, including a number of wellknown corporate customers. Michelle provides in-house training for customers and speaks at a variety of disease seminars each year. Her expertise is key in advising brokers and corporates on the liability of the company to an historic disease claim. Michelle chaired the working group that reviewed the disease and illness protocol and was tasked with the development of a mesothelioma PAP. She is a member of the Civil Justice Committee at The Law Society and has been working with them to develop a standalone disease accreditation scheme and has recently been appointed interim chief assessor for the scheme. Val Hughes has been dealing with occupational disease claims for thirty years. Val was originally employed by a major corporate firm in Birmingham and regularly worked closely with the corporate lawyers undertaking due diligence work. That inevitable overlap between occupational disease claims and corporate liability has resulted in Val receiving many private instructions from companies faced with often expensive old asbestos claims who firstly need to identify whether they will hold the historical liabilities for the employing company and secondly to try to track down the relevant insurers. Val has advised and represented a number of household names and lead the defendant company to success in the Court of Appeal in a case where the interpretation of a contractual indemnity was in dispute (Bateman v Danks). Chris Fletcher is a partner in BLM Manchester s occupational disease team. He has particular expertise in advising on both long and short-tail disease litigation claims, with an emphasis on workrelated stress, occupational cancers, asbestos-related disease and other complex technical claims. His experience includes acting for insurers and working with brokers and corporate customers in relation to disease liability strategy and solutions, including policy interpretation, as well as responding to government consultations on developments in the law. Chris is dual qualified in English and Scottish jurisdictions, with experience of practicing in each. Zoe Aston works as a paralegal within the disease unit and provides a specialised investigative support role in conjunction with our intel team in relation to all types of disease claims. In particular, she runs the ITS. Zoe looks to close any gaps in insurance cover by whatever means she can. She often undertakes detailed and complicated corporate enquiries in order to track down the correct identity of the relevant employing company and then seeks to establish the insurers for the relevant period of exposure. Zoe has extensive experience and knowledge of using the ELTO database placing dozens of searches each week. Once that line of enquiry has been exhausted, Zoe pursues many other sources and avenues of investigation to reveal the necessary information to successfully produce results. BLM in house Information Services team Zoe will be supported by BLM s in house Information Services Team. They are experienced in tracing company records and locating company members. The claim and insurance tracing Inevitably the need for insurance tracing is triggered by receipt of a disease type claim, be it NIHL, HAVS or an asbestos related claim such as mesothelioma. A NIHL claim may be of modest value but could be followed up by many more. A mesothelioma claim can be very expensive for a solvent corporate without insurance. BLM s national specialist team are best placed to assist with not only the insurance tracing but also the claim. Any investigation into tracing will potentially overlap with investigations into any claim and BLM can also advise on whether there has been a transfer of liability at the same time. BLM offer an end-to-end service unlike other standalone insurance tracing services. How to make a request Making a request is simple. BLM will provide an Insurance Tracing Request Form that has been tailored to allow for the handlers to have a send and forget service. Providing the forms are completed as much as possible, the handlers should not need to be contacted until the report has been completed. If interim reports are required, the handlers may request them. Guidance on completing the form can be found in the Appendix on page four

3 What you will receive Formal reports feedback for each investigation will be provided via a comprehensive report. The report will explain what actions have been taken, and what has been discovered as a result. The reports will contain all the relevant contact details and evidence to ensure that you can easily retrace our steps if required. Management information BLM can provide a snapshot of all ongoing and completed insurance traces in the form of a spreadsheet. This will provide a brief summary of the cover found, how long it took to receive a response and the amount of time engaged. Performance can be measured against success rate. The cost All time spent by the ITS shall be charged at the paralegal hourly rate 100. Additional expenses, such as companies house documents will be charged as disbursements. Tracing service The tracing service receives instructions directly from external companies and insurers as well as internally from our lawyers who are already instructed to deal with employers liability claims. We have also received instructions from a large global company to carry out an insurance archaeology project. We are currently researching their insurance history for over 20 of their UK based companies. Instructions received The insurance tracing team received their first instructions in January Since January we have received 196 instructions to trace insurance for various companies. 97 of those traces have now been completed and closed with 99 traces currently ongoing. Success rates So far the team have located 808 years of missing insurance cover. This is an average of just over four years insurance traced for each instruction received. Of the 97 traces that have been completed to date, we were successful in tracing some insurance cover on just over 50% of those traces. Of the 99 traces that are still ongoing we have so far located insurance cover for 45 of those traces, giving us a current success rate of 45.57%. Investigations on those 99 cases are still ongoing and therefore we expect the success rate on those traces to be much higher once the investigations are completed. Overall we have so far found insurance on 88 of our 196 instructions to date. Turnaround times It is very difficult to estimate how long a trace will take as it very much depends on what searches are required and how long it takes to receive responses to our enquiries. On the 97 traces completed so far our average turnaround time from instruction to closing the trace was approximately 4.2 months. The average time spent per trace is 4.9 hours. INSURANCE COVER TRACED ON OVER 50% OF CASES TO DATE Appendix Completing the Insurance Tracing Request Form The request form is available as a word document. It is vital that this is filled out correctly as it will determine how the search is conducted. Guidance on how best to complete the request can be found below. Requested by Please list the details of the individual that is placing the request so that the tracing team may contact them as required. If you have a preferred method of contact, please notify us by using the tick boxes next to /tel. The tracing team shall endeavour to use this method of contact wherever possible. Details of claim Date Insured client Claim type File ref Claimant Details Claimant name Address N.I. number Total exposure period Date of birth Date deceased Job role undertaken The date that the request is sent to the tracing team The name of the insured client and if different (e.g. policyholder subsidiary) the employer covered by the policy that the claim is being made against The nature of the claim is important. Please be specific, i.e. NIHL, Pleural Plaques, etc. Please insert your own file reference Please insert the claimant name for ELTO purposes Please insert the claimant address and postcode for ELTO purposes Please insert the claimant NI number for ELTO purposes Please insert the entire exposure period, even if it is not all to be traced. Exposure with all employers Please insert the claimant date of birth for ELTO purposes If applicable, please insert the claimant date of death Please list the job that resulted in the relevant exposure Insurance Tracing Request Form Please complete the form below and forward it to Insurance.tracing@blmlaw.com Requested by Handler Name Tel. Details of Claim Date Click here to enter a date. Disease Insured Client File Ref. Claimant Details Claimant Name National Address Insurance No. Date of Birth Click here to enter a date. Total Exposure Period Date Deceased (if applicable) Job Role Undertaken Click here to enter a date. Policyholder name Located Exposure Time on Risk Click here to enter Periods Insurer Policy text. Click here to enter Number enter text. text. Click here to Click here Click here to Click here Click here to Click here Click Click here to enter here text. Click here to enter text. Date(s) Exposures to be Traced Company Name & Number Click here Click here to Location/Postcode Click here to Click here enter text. Click here to Click here enter text. Click here to enter text

4 Located exposure periods Please use this area to note down the periods of exposure that have already been located that either relate to the policyholder or the employer with missing insurance; this will seek to avoid a duplication of efforts. There is a notes section at the bottom of the page where you can input further details of the investigations already undertaken. Exposures to be searched Please input the period(s) you would like traced here: Wherever possible, please enter the company number, this will ensure that we are tracing the correct entity. It is also advantageous to have a postcode with the location. Some searches can be greatly improved with the addition of a postcode. HMRC/employment records/authority It is important that the HMRC schedule is attached where possible. If one is available then please tick the relevant box and attach it to the form. If any employment records are available please also attach them. The most important details would be a confirmed start and end date for the claimant s employment with the company. The insured can prove to be a vital source when tracing historical information. If you would prefer that we do not contact them directly, then leave the box blank. If you have a specific contact at the insured then please add their contact information to the additional notes section at the bottom of the form. Report frequency Investigating the insurance background of a company does not adhere to a strict timeline. It is often the case that a report will be updated multiple times before it is complete. The period of time it may take depends on various administrative factors, e.g. ELTO response time. Therefore a full and final report may take time. This section allows for handlers to opt to receive updates as and when they happen. The options are: Initial Investigations: this report is created as a result of the preliminary research, this can often uncover new information that may expand the research parameters. At this stage the report will be able to tell you what information is available and what further investigations will be required. Updates: the updates will provide the results of further investigations, and again list what avenues of investigation will be pursued. Final Update and Summary: the final update and summary marks the end of the investigation information prior to this may be subject to change. When the final report is completed, all avenues available to the tracing team will have been assessed and reviewed. A breakdown of the cover found will be provided in a tabular format for ease of reference. The final summary will include all of the previous reports. Please tick the relevant boxes to indicate how regularly you would like to receive a breakdown of our findings. Additional notes Please use the additional notes to give details of the investigations that have already been undertaken (if any). If possible, please include: Reference number of any ELTO searches conducted The name(s) and contact details of established points of contact at the insured/brokers etc The name(s) and contact details of individuals that have already been contacted The company s current broker Details of policy cover placed with you Any special requests to the tracing team, such as urgent completion dates etc Any company history details that have already been obtained Attachments Please attach any additional information to your and send it to insurance.tracing@blmlaw.com BLM ACT FOR 13 OF THE TOP 15 UK INSURERS AND FOUR OF THE TOP FIVE GLOBAL INSURERS 05 06

5 For further information please contact: Michelle Penn T E michelle.penn@blmlaw.com Chris Fletcher T E chris.fletcher@blmlaw.com Val Hughes T E val.hughes@blmlaw.com Zoe Aston Paralegal T E zoe.aston@blmlaw.com