Commission on ATE Insurance

mikeassured

Hi

My daughter has a personal injury claim going through with a TV advertised firm of solicitors.

We have received paperwork from the solicitors for after the event insurance which I understand is standard. There is a document to sign to agree to the solicitors keeping referral fee of up to £650 for the ATE Insurance company which apparently legally belongs to my daughter.

Is it standard practise to sign this document in agreement to the Solicitors keeping it?

The defendant has admitted liability by the way.

Thanks

Sue

claret_mike

My understanding is that ATE policies pay around a 1/3 of this.

Who is the policy with? Which company is it being used?

My understanding is that these policies are almost like 2 stage purchases - they intially set up the policy and pay a small amount and then if they need to activate it effectively because it goes to court then they pay an increased amount.

I cannot imagine even if at the 2nd stage, it would pay that much as these policies typically cost £400 ish in full. (may have changed/increased since I worked in the insurance arena).

That fee to me looks more like the referral fee of the company you have called for them to farm out to a solicitor on their panel..

mikeassured

Hi

The letter from the solicitors only mentions this insurance policy and no other commission.
The ATE insurance company is Temple litigation Advantage. Maybe as you suggest as it is unlikely to go to court, the commission is unlikely to be significant.

Thanks for your input.

InsideInsurance

It is not normal for the claimant to get any commission or profit share that may be involved with the ATE insurance policy the solicitors may decide to take out.

claret_mike

There is commission available on ATE policies.

The total cost of an ATE is usually around £400-450 inc IPT.

There is no way that £650 can be paid in commission as its very difficult to charge full amount unless case progresses

The likelihood of it getting to that stage is unlikely if liability is admitted. They may only defend if they believe their is something not quite right or there is exaggeration of the claim.

Quentin

The £650 mentioned will be a catch all figure used in a pro forma type agreement.

Any such commission isn't legally your daughters so don't worry she is not being denied anything she should be getting!