Claim after the event

Belf

Hi folks. I have had legal expenses cover on my Halifax MOR policy for a number of years.
Around a year ago I instructed my own lawyer to overturn a wrongful decision at my previous employer.
Recently whilst adding Home emergency cover to the policy a new schedule was sent out which showed I was paying for legal expense cover.
I approached Halifax who put me in touch with DAS who handles this aspect and they said as as I did not approach them i the first instance they will not pay out? This is very disappointing as I genuinely did not realise I could have claimed on the Home insurance (why would I not do this as i potentially would have saved me around £1000!!)
I have said I will happily forward evidence of the invoices for them to settle and prove the work took place.
DAS put me back in touch with Halifax to raise a complaint. The complaint has been "investigated" and they say that Halifax will not pay out and I now await an outcome from DAS under the same complaint.
Any hints tips tor templates that I could use to get them to pay out? Failing that I appreciate I can approach the ombudsman so again how can I get them to look favorably upon my claim?

huckster

Sorry to say that these type of legal expense policies will not pay out in your situation and your complaint is unlikely to get anywhere. If you read the terms of the cover, it states you have to contact them within a certain period of time, when the legal situation arises. The reason for this, is that companies like DAS employ legal executives, who are not as qualified as Solicitors, to look at cases put to them. They will attempt to deal with cases where they can and if not, DAS will have a panel of Solicitors they refer cases to. They might not cover Solicitors costs, where the policyholder has appointed them.

The other issue is whether the particular policy covers employment issues, as legal cover with Home Insurance is often restricted to purely relate to issues regarding the home.

You are entitled to complain and get a clear explanation about the policy cover and why your claim is not covered.

Crazy_Jamie

huckster wrote: »

The other issue is whether the particular policy covers employment issues, as legal cover with Home Insurance is often restricted to purely relate to issues regarding the home.

Actually legal expenses insurance on Home Insurance policies tends to cover far more than issues relating to the home. Most policies will cover employment disputes as standard.

However, what huckster says is right about the likely terms of the policy. Using the cover on your legal expenses policy isn't simply a case of incurring your legal costs and then getting DAS to write out a cheque. They will, first and foremost, generally only cover claims where you are deemed to have reasonable prospects of success. Even then DAS may handle your claim for some or part of the time, and may place restrictions on the costs incurred by solicitors. Essentially they retain a lot of control over how the litigation is conducted, which is why you have to contact them from the outset. Unfortunately, as much as I appreciate why you feel aggrieved, it is highly unlikely that you're going to get any money back from this.

Just_Some_Guy

You are unlikely to get anywhere complaning. It is very, very standard for legal policies to require you to get in touch with the insurer within a short time of realising things are about to go legal and you didn't do this. Because this is standard practice the FOS is likely to side with the insurer I'm afraid if you take the complaint that far. However the FOS is also fickle and maybe they'll side with you, who knows!

Voyager2002

Belf wrote: »

Hi folks. I have had legal expenses cover on my Halifax MOR policy for a number of years.
Around a year ago I instructed my own lawyer to overturn a wrongful decision at my previous employer.
Recently whilst adding Home emergency cover to the policy a new schedule was sent out which showed I was paying for legal expense cover.
I approached Halifax who put me in touch with DAS who handles this aspect and they said as as I did not approach them i the first instance they will not pay out? This is very disappointing as I genuinely did not realise I could have claimed on the Home insurance (why would I not do this as i potentially would have saved me around £1000!!)
I have said I will happily forward evidence of the invoices for them to settle and prove the work took place.
DAS put me back in touch with Halifax to raise a complaint. The complaint has been "investigated" and they say that Halifax will not pay out and I now await an outcome from DAS under the same complaint.
Any hints tips tor templates that I could use to get them to pay out? Failing that I appreciate I can approach the ombudsman so again how can I get them to look favorably upon my claim?

For this kind of thing, the "goodwill gesture" is more likely to give results. A thousand pounds is a small amount in relation to the total cost of fighting a case, but as others have explained you did not keep to their terms and so have no right to be paid.