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04 October 2018 / Nicholas Bevan
Issue: 7811 / Categories: Features , Insurance / reinsurance
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Lewis v Motor Insurers Bureau: a five-month wonder?

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The High Court rules that the MIB is an emanation of the state. Nicholas Bevan reports.

  • Lewis v MIB : provides a valuable new direct route to redress against the MIB for motor accident victims wrongly excluded from the compensatory guarantee.
  • Accordingly, motor accident victims injured in private parking areas or in private cul de sacs can now recover their compensatory entitlement from the MIB direct.
  • However, after Brexit, these important principles, which enable ordinary citizens to challenge the longstanding abuses of power and institutional bias in this area, will be lost.

In Lewis v MIB [2018] EWHC 2376 (QB), [2018] All ER (D) 53 (Sep) Mr Justice Soole ruled that the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) was liable under European law to compensate a man who was struck down and seriously injured by an uninsured motorist in a field. In doing so, he broke with a time honoured but misconceived belief that the MIB’s compensatory role is restricted to the contractual obligations with the Secretary of State for Transport.

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