McCarthy to warn insurers of crisis over premiums

Insurers who refuse to pay out insurance premiums in successful conditional fee cases will this week face a withering attack by the president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL).

Frances McCarthy, a partner with London firm Pattinson & Brewer, is set to warn delegates meeting at APILs annual conference in Newport, south Wales, that insurers who argue against the recovery of premiums have left the system teetering on the brink of a great crisis.APIL contends that the government has already said that such premiums should be recoverable (see [2001] Gazette, 5 January, 4).Ms McCarthy will tell delegates that insurers are trying to obtain through the back door something that they lost in argument with the government.Jeremy Fleming