Lord Woolf's dual role in drafting the legislation on conditional fee arrangements and sitting in the Court of Appeal to decide issues raised by it means the subject is likely to rumble on, warn lawyers.
A partner at solicitors Scott Rees, Daniel Rees, said Woolf's role could prompt insurers to take the issue beyond the House of Lords to the European Court of Human Rights.
He said: “The claims industry has some time to wait before it arrives at a definitive answer to the issue surrounding after the event (ATE) insurance.”
ATE insurance is to be further examined by the courts next month when the Court of Appeal looks at the case of Sawar vs Alam. The case rests on how far claimants should go to check whether they already have legal expenses insurance before they take out an ATE policy.
