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21 April 2021 / Sarah Prager , Chris Deacon
Issue: 7929 / Categories: Features , Insurance / reinsurance , Personal injury , EU
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Motor insurance & Vnuk: accidents do happen

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Adding insult to injury: Sarah Prager & Chris Deacon outline why the government’s recent Vnuk policy decision is worrying news for serious injury victims
  • The decision in Vnuk.
  • The effect of the Vnuk decision on UK law.
  • The response of the UK government.

On 21 February 2021, the government announced its plans to ‘bin the EU’s Vnuk motor insurance law’, which, it said, would ‘ensure every British driver is spared an estimated £50 annual increase in insurance premiums’ and ‘reiterate the benefits of leaving the EU, as we take back control of our own laws and regulations’.

According to the government, had the law been implemented the insurance industry would have been liable for almost £2bn a year in extra costs, and these costs would probably have been passed onto their policyholders. Furthermore, the policy decision would protect the UK motorsports industry, saving it £458m a year in additional insurance costs. The announcement described the move as ‘a clear win for motorists in

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NEWS
The Legal Action Group (LAG)—the UK charity dedicated to advancing access to justice—has unveiled its calendar of training courses, seminars and conferences designed to support lawyers, advisers and other legal professionals in tackling key areas of public interest law
Refusing ADR is risky—but not always fatal. Writing in NLJ this week, Masood Ahmed and Sanjay Dave Singh of the University of Leicester analyse Assensus Ltd v Wirsol Energy Ltd: despite repeated invitations to mediate, the defendant stood firm, made a £100,000 Part 36 offer and was ultimately ‘wholly vindicated’ at trial
The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 transformed criminal justice. Writing in NLJ this week, Ed Cape of UWE and Matthew Hardcastle and Sandra Paul of Kingsley Napley trace its ‘seismic impact’
Operational resilience is no longer optional. Writing in NLJ this week, Emma Radmore and Michael Lewis of Womble Bond Dickinson explain how UK regulators expect firms to identify ‘important business services’ that could cause ‘intolerable levels of harm’ if disrupted
As the drip-feed of Epstein disclosures fuels ‘collateral damage’, the rush to cry misconduct in public office may be premature. Writing in NLJ this week, David Locke of Hill Dickinson warns that the offence is no catch-all for political embarrassment. It demands a ‘grave departure’ from proper standards, an ‘abuse of the public’s trust’ and conduct ‘sufficiently serious to warrant criminal punishment’
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