Senior costs judge pledges to end muddle after conditional fee agreements ruling

INSURANCE PREMIUMS: 700 firms on TAG panel and 250,000 claimants face uncertainty

The senior costs judge has vowed to resolve the spate of uncertainty following a recent decision by a Peterborough court that the Accident Line Group's (TAG) conditional fee agreements are unenforceable and the insurance premiums unrecoverable.

English v Clipson, which was heard last month, threw the 700 law firms on the TAG panel into confusion, and it is thought that up to 250,000 claimants are awaiting a determination of whether their costs will be paid.

Anthony Dennison, of Rowe Cohen, who acts for the claimants, said he had informed senior costs judge Master Peter Hurst that Rowe Cohen might not appeal the English v Clipson decision - because it is not well suited as a test case - but wanted to bring forward other cases instead.

After agreement with the solicitor for the defendant - Rob Carter of London-based Carters - a test case will be heard by Master Hurst on 29 October.

A preliminary issue hearing will determine whether TAG's arrangements are enforceable under the Conditional Fee Agreements Regulations 2000.

The case hinges on whether solicitors have the right to delegate to agents the task of giving information regarding policies to their clients.

A joint statement from Mr Dennison and Mr Carter said: 'We have worked together to bring this issue before the senior costs judge quickly.

We are both of the opinion that it is in no one's interest, least of all that of the claimants and the insurance industry in general, to allow this to interfere with the due process of bringing and defending claims.'

Meanwhile, Manchester solicitor Tom Wainwright of the law firm Glaisyers, said a decision by a district judge earlier this month to award a success rate of 5% was 'an absolute outrage'.

Mr Wainwright said of the decision in Halloran v Delaney: 'The court's decision flies in the face of accepted practice which has seen a 20% success fee routinely awarded since last year's precedent-setting Callery v Gray test.'

Jeremy Fleming