Liability insurers have welcomed yesterday's Court of Appeal decision to dismiss the claimants' appeal in the Claims Direct Test Cases.
The appeal was against Master Hurst's initial July 2002 judgement, in which he held that £621.13 of Claims Direct's insurance premium of £1,312.50 could be recovered from the defendants.
Andrew Parker, litigation partner at Beachcroft Wansbroughs, who acted for several of the liability insurers involved in the appeal, commented: "Today's decision supports our arguments all along that, where a claims management company such as Claims Direct has derived income from an insurance product, the court should be entitled to look at the true cost of the insurance being sold to the claimant.
"Any other costs do not form part of the contract of indemnity and are not recoverable from the losing defendant."
