Before The Event legal Expenses Insurance (BTE)

What is Before The Event legal Expenses Insurance (BTE)?

This is insurance which is normally taken out as a part of or an addition to:
• household insurance
• your car insurance
• buildings or contents insurance
• bank / credit card accounts

The insurance attached to car insurance policies almost always only provides cover in relation to claims from car accidents or other car related claims.

Household legal expenses insurance usually excludes all car related claims but typically includes other personal injury claims such as accidents at work, tripping and slipping etc, employment claims and other consumer contract claims.

Why should I have Before the Event Legal Expenses Insurance?

Because it can be very useful and, at least for the time being, is fairly reasonable to buy, often usually in the region of £25. Having this insurance can take away any concerns that you might have about having to pay privately to pursue claims covered by the insurance or entering into no win no fee agreements, where often additional insurance needs to be taken out or, in the case of employment claims before the employment tribunal, part of any damages awarded to you will be paid to your lawyer under the no win no fee agreement. You should always consider taking out this insurance when asked by your insurance broker or if buying insurance on line.

Points to be aware of:

One of the downsides of BTE is that in many cases, the legal expenses insurer will try to insist that you use their own appointed panel solicitor. In fact, in many cases they cannot insist that you do so. Under European Law, we are entitled to freedom of choice of your solicitor. This has to be given if any proceedings before a court or tribunal are to be instituted. However, there is very strong legal argument to say that European Law and the relevant regulations in the UK mean that you must be allowed to appoint your own solicitor from the outset of the matter once a claim is being made. Unfortunately, many insurers still try to insist that you use their solicitor. We have experience of clients being put under pressure not to instruct their own solicitor by scaremongering from brokers saying that they would be liable for £50,000.00 costs etc. This is untrue but the reason for it is that often these brokers may well be in receipt of commission from the insurers if they can ensure that a legal claim from their customer actually goes through the insurer's own panel solicitors and it is usually the case that the panel solicitors will be paying a hefty referral fee to the insurers, something which they have to reveal to you when they take on your case but which the insurers do not reveal to you when you take out the insurance. The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, of which I am a member, has recently submitted detailed evidence on these matters to the European Commission using some of our own experiences of dealing with legal expenses insurers as evidence. So when you consider taking out this BTE, you should ask whether you can instruct your own solicitor.