Hi

I have mortgage with Stroud and Swindon and I believe Amicus Legal Ltd handled the legal expenses side of things.

I lost my job 2 years ago, might add it was unfair dismissal. I selected a solicitor to handle my case based close to home. anyway the case took a while to get to court. on reviewing my household insurance it turned out that I have legal expense cover, which covered me for this kind of thing.

i had a couple of weeks to go before my court date, so I contacted them to see if they would be prepared to cover my legal costs. I was told that I would infact have to sack my solicitor who was acting for me and use one of the solicitors on their panel. I explained that I wouldnt be able to do that as the closeness of the court date. they asked me how much it was probably going to cost for my solicitor. I informaed them that it was going to cost in the region of about £10,000.00. They said that if i was to use one of there solicitors they would cover the cost and it shouldnt be more than £2000.00 in any case. I wasnt sure how they could say that as they didnt know the complexity of the case. Anyway to cut a long story short as they say. I carried on using my legal team and was sent a cheque for £2000.00 towards the costs, meaning I had to pay the other £8,000.00.

what I suppose I really need to know is, are these people total cowboys and should they infact of coved the whole cost.

If this is so, do I have some kind of case to recover the rest of my money, if so, how do I go about it.

Helllllllllpppppppp please

Hi

 

I have mortgage with Stroud and Swindon and I believe Amicus Legal Ltd handled the legal expenses side of things.

 

I lost my job 2 years ago, might add it was unfair dismissal. I selected a solicitor to handle my case based close to home. anyway the case took a while to get to court. on reviewing my household insurance it turned out that I have legal expense cover, which covered me for this kind of thing.

 

i had a couple of weeks to go before my court date, so I contacted them to see if they would be prepared to cover my legal costs. I was told that I would infact have to sack my solicitor who was acting for me and use one of the solicitors on their panel. I explained that I wouldnt be able to do that as the closeness of the court date. they asked me how much it was probably going to cost for my solicitor. I informaed them that it was going to cost in the region of about £10,000.00. They said that if i was to use one of there solicitors they would cover the cost and it shouldnt be more than £1,500.00 in any case. I wasnt sure how they could say that as they didnt know the complexity of the case. Anyway to cut a long story short as they say. I carried on using my legal team and was sent a cheque for £1,500.00 towards the costs, meaning I had to pay the other £8,500.00.

 

what I suppose I really need to know is, are these people total cowboys and should they infact of coved the whole cost.

 

If this is so, do I have some kind of case to recover the rest of my money, if so, how do I go about it.

 

Helllllllllpppppppp please

I feel extremely sorry for you but am unable to help as I do not have any legal knowledge. I hope that someone can assist you.

bump

I think you will find andy that you should really have contacted them from the beginning of your claim as i did, i had das and if its any consolation they've just lost me my unfair dismissal case!

Hi

 

I have mortgage with Stroud and Swindon and I believe Amicus Legal Ltd handled the legal expenses side of things.

 

I lost my job 2 years ago, might add it was unfair dismissal. I selected a solicitor to handle my case based close to home. anyway the case took a while to get to court. on reviewing my household insurance it turned out that I have legal expense cover, which covered me for this kind of thing.

 

i had a couple of weeks to go before my court date, so I contacted them to see if they would be prepared to cover my legal costs. I was told that I would infact have to sack my solicitor who was acting for me and use one of the solicitors on their panel. I explained that I wouldnt be able to do that as the closeness of the court date. they asked me how much it was probably going to cost for my solicitor. I informaed them that it was going to cost in the region of about £10,000.00. They said that if i was to use one of there solicitors they would cover the cost and it shouldnt be more than £1,500.00 in any case. I wasnt sure how they could say that as they didnt know the complexity of the case. Anyway to cut a long story short as they say. I carried on using my legal team and was sent a cheque for £1,500.00 towards the costs, meaning I had to pay the other £8,500.00.

 

what I suppose I really need to know is, are these people total cowboys and should they infact of coved the whole cost.

 

If this is so, do I have some kind of case to recover the rest of my money, if so, how do I go about it.

 

Helllllllllpppppppp please

If you look on the "I am a Norwich Union Customer Service Advisor" thread you will note that wherever DAS underwrite the legal expenses insurance on a policy they will negotiate on your behalf and when proceedings are issued when they will allow you to appoint your own solicitor. This being the case, as your proceedings were issued and your solicitor already appointed they should have paid the whole lot.

Hello,

I would be very interested to hear users experiences and advice on dealing with DAS Legal.

I have an open claim since October 2009 - employment matter, unfair constructive dismissal.

I was referred to a DAS panel solicitor.

I was initially passed onto a solicitor that DAS selected. This solicitor had 3 years of experience in total comprising family, civil and employemnt matters. The advice given was inappropriate . This was based on two 30 second conversation and one 20 minute conversation. Hence I found myself in a situation where I had to appeal, and outlay more of my time and money in order to enlist DAS services.

I was then told that I had a choice of counsel for appeal, which when I selected I was told that they were too expensive.

I was told to select from a DAS panel of counsel. How is this independant ?

My policy states that I can now enlist the services on my solicitors, which I may add that I faith and trust in. However I cannot as I now have another obstacle thrown in by DAS, by DAs stating they will only pay £90/hr fee. The rate of my solicitor is £210/hr plus VAT.

Am I now out of a job and lumbered with these fees ?

DAS is contradicting its own policy. And causing me much undue stress

I have emailed them with the above and told them that I was going to complain to my insurer and the ombudsman.

Thanks,

wotsits

I don't really know too much about DAS but I would say they are being unreasonable- I know paralegals that charge £190 per hour so I'm not sure exactly how you are supposed to find anyone fully qualified to act on you behalf for £90.

I would suggest you get some quotes from solicitors to show DAS how unreasonable they are being.

well you have read my thoughts and experience with DAS, totally unfair I still want to try and claim back my fee's that I personally had to pay. whats the point in having this kind of insurance when it wont cover the basic costs of employment tribunals, my case took just over a year to deal with including 2 trips to an employment tribunal in Leeds. I really want to claim my additional £8,500.00 back from them somehow

Hi andyford 200

I have been lumbered with DAS for a complicated medical negligence claim with my chosen solicitor refused "until proceedings commence".

This is based on their interpretation of an ECJ decision of last September.

Am just waiting to see which two bit barrack room lawyer they suggest.

I've done so much research into the medical and legal issues involved I think I shall be a match for them and would willingly share my legal sources with you if you wish.

Goodluck!

Vandermerwe

P.S. Both my solicitor and barrister son used the same word to describe DAS - b******s.

Can I just ask, in order to clear a few things up, are you looking for your before the event insurers i.e. DAS/ Amicus to fund a claim/litigation as your own solicitors are having problems in funding the claim?

By this I mean, did the solicitors that you instructed, take your claim on on a no win,no fee/CFA basis and now litigation is needed to progress the claim and they are worried that their costs and that of the Defendant will not be met if you lose unless you get insurance to cover you?

Hi Endymion

I want to take action aganst the NHS for financial compensation due to lack of care.

I have a specific solicitor in mind who first asked whether I had any assurance to cover the costs involved. I mentioned my 'legal expenses' cover which turned out to be DAS who insist on using one of their panel solicitors.

Hope this answers your question.

Regards.

Van

Legal Expenses Insurers, as with other insurers, like to use their own panel solicitors because they usually have a financial arrangement between themselves where the solicitors will usually pay a 'referral fee' for each claim the take on and/or suggest the use of a certain insurer for ATE policies.

This is not technically against the rules per se, as long as the solicitor confirms to the client that they have a financial interest in either promoting certain insurance policies or any relationship with the insurers. However, this has been looked at closely by Lord Justice Jackson in his latest report on PI claims and may change shortly.

Recent case law suggests that a run of the mill accident, such as a minor whiplash injury, can easily be dealt with by a panel solicitor, irrespective of the distance of the solicitors office to the Claimants home address.

This has been covered in law by a case called Sarwar -v- Alam (paragraph 41 onwards)

Court of Appeal Sarwar v Alam

The problem remains, however, for Claimants who wish to instruct their own solicitors who are not on a panel of the legal expenses insurer, who have a more complicated claim.

Fairly recently, there have been a number of discussions with the Association of Personal Injury Solicitors (APIL) and the Ombudsman regarding this issue, especially with DAS and Cornhill. To the best of my knowledge, the Ombudsman ruled against both the insurers and suggested that The Insurance Companies (Legal Expenses Insurance) Regulations 1990 applied and that Claimants could instruct their solicitor of choice whilst still utilising their legal expense insurance.

I am also aware that APIL were trying to get secondary legislation to try and sort out this mess as the Ombudsman isn't really a big heavyweight and insurance companies can just ignore it to an extent.

As such, I would suggest that you contact APIL and they should be able to help you out with any progress they have made or any more recent case law that may support your claim.

However, as vandermerwe's claim is going to be quite technical, high value and probably disputed all the way by the NHS trust, you could argue that Sarwar gives rise for you to instruct your own solicitors, expecially if the solicitors you want to use are particular specialised in such claims.

As an aside, with such claims as vandermerwe's, it is likely that the costs for such litigation is going to exceed the coverage afforded by your legal expenses cover and as such, you will need to take out after the event insurance (ATE) to cover your fees and that of the Defendants, in any event. I would therefore see if the solicitors you have instructed are willing to proceed on a CFA WITHOUT a success fee and with ATE insurance instead of BTE insurance from DAS.

well you have read my thoughts and experience with DAS, totally unfair I still want to try and claim back my fee's that I personally had to pay. whats the point in having this kind of insurance when it wont cover the basic costs of employment tribunals, my case took just over a year to deal with including 2 trips to an employment tribunal in Leeds. I really want to claim my additional £8,500.00 back from them somehow

I a having serious problems with Das but I think a class action using the 1990 Act could be launched against them if you could get a Solicitor interested.

A new directive on the FSA website has changed all the rules and left DAS with no clothes.Look for letter to Insurers from Ken Hogg regarding legal expenses insurers.Cant give a link not enough posts.

Endymion has pretty much summed it up; the complexities of the case will be the deciding issue. If there has been work already carried out prior to the BTE insurer's involvement, you may not be entitled to this.

Lot's going on with the FOS regarding this type of insurance right now, especially on the right to choose your solicitor and the fees they can claim. If they go against the BTE's and insist non panel fees are paid, we may see the end of cover for employment disputes, with the lack of ability to recover the costs, who would want to underwrite that ?

Ken Hoggs LETTER COMPLETELY MOVES THE GOAL POSTS:-)

Re Ken Hoggs letter.

I'm not sure if this will cover everything, the right to choose could still be there, however this can still be upon the agreed terms of the BTE, which can be pretty stringent and not something all solicitors will want to abide by. LEI's may still have the upper hand of insisting the panel rates are agreed. Also cost assessing will be a potential nightmare scenario for the individuals, you sign up to a solicitor, the ask the BTE for cover, they agree on the basis of reasonable costs, a judge or draughtsman assess costs which leave a shortfall to be argued between the client and solicitor.

This has the whole potential to open up a much larger can of worms.

Hi andyford 200

 

ifVandermerwe

 

P.S. Both my solicitor and barrister son used the same word to describe DAS - b******s.

Hi andyford 200

Hi!

I think that Van's sons got it about right. We have had our policy for years and the terms and conditions in the booklet have not been changed. So when my husband had to complain to employment tribunal , and was referred to DAS by our household insurers, we didn't even know that we had a right to appoint our own solicitor The DAS- appointed panel Solicitor gave the case file to a paralegal, who botched the job but who, fortunately for us, withdrew representation after a couple of months {before she had been able to fatally damage the case} then we found ourselves tangled up in arguments with DAS employees, who adamantly refused to admit that we should have been advised of our right to choose our own solicitor. Told us to pay for a barrister's opinion ourselves; vaguely suggesting that, if the barrister said chance of success was above 51%, DAS may {at its own discretion} consider contributing to legal costs. Then we discovered that DAS is also the legal expenses insurer for my husband's employer {a large organisation with a multi-million pound turnover} For the employer, DAS is paying the fees for an employment law specialist who is a senior pthisartner in one of the largest legal practices in the country. The most they would pay for for us, was a few weeks of having the file 'looked at' by a young woman who is only a couple of years out of university

 

Now, we want to kick up a fuss because Das should have declared conflict-of-interest and referred us to a different LEI. ---- but the FSA said nothing to do with them.

 

So please tell your sons this Van - they can share joint Honours for voicing the most accurate legal opinion I have ever heard.

 

I hope things turned out okay for you, and for Andy