24/11/2009 - Third-party claims made easier
Making an employer's liability claim against an insured but insolvent company is to be made easier by the Third Parties (Rights Against Insurers) Bill.
Introduced by junior justice minister Lord Bach, it ensures "the rights of third parties against insurers of liabilities to third parties in the case where the insured is insolvent".
Lord Bach said during a Lords debate on the Queen's Speech that the "modest, technical Bill" replaces existing legislation dating from the 1930s.
He said: "It will modernise and simplify the procedures by which claimants can recover money from the insurer of an insolvent wrongdoer. Legal costs and delay will be reduced by enabling claimants to sue the insurer direct without suing the wrongdoer first.
"Claimants will have better rights to obtain information about insurance policies earlier in the process. And it will include a wider range of insolvency and insolvency-type situations than the present law allows for."
Copyright © Press Association 2009
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