After-the-event insurance is recoverable

A conditional fee agreement can be lawfully assigned, the Supreme Court has unanimously held in a significant judgment.

Plevin v Paragon Personal Finance [2017] UKSC 23 concerned the issue of whether an after-the-event (ATE) insurance premium claimed in a costs order was recoverable.

The appellant argued that the premium was not recoverable because the insurance policy, taken out in 2008, did not cover proceedings in the Supreme Court by operation of s 46(1) of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012. The respondent countered that transitional provisions apply, and that the Supreme Court proceedings are the same proceedings that commenced in 2009.

NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan, of City Law School, said: “This topic has generated much debate and some judgments.

“Were it otherwise, the benefit of recovering additional liabilities under pre-1 April 2013 arrangements would have disappeared. By a 4-1 majority the court also held that the cost of ATE insurance was fully recoverable where an initial policy incepted pre-Jackson was topped up twice after the reforms were implemented.”