the importance of after the event insurance (ATE) on any no win no fee case for personal injury

If injured in an accident and you make a claim on a no win no fee basis, there is one imperative safeguard which you need to put into place to ensure that your financial interests and assets are protected; purchase a robust and competitive ATE (After the event) insurance policy.

In brief what an ATE policy does is that in the event you lose your case in court, under specific circumstances, where you might be held personally responsible to pay the other party for their legal fees, the ATE will step in and bear all costs for you.

So in effect an ATE is like a safety cushion, if you fall it will break your fall! 

If you have Legal expense insurance (LEI) with your motor insurer, home and contents insurer, bank etc. they might also provide the same cover but with several limitations which might not be the best protection for you based on your circumstances.

In the past, the losing party’s insurer would pay out the ATE costs for the wining party.

However as of the 1^st of April 2013 this has changed and the winning party have to bear the expense, but we are here to tell you that it is an expense well worth taking out.

There are 4 specific instances in which you make a claim for injury and you lose you would be personally responsible for the legal fees of the other side;

1. The claim is struck out by the court, as the claiming party has not provided sufficient evidence to prove his case.
2. At the end of the case the court finds that the claiming party was “Fundamental dishonestly”. This could mean something as serious as fraud or something as trivial as getting the circumstances wrong.
3. If there are several heads of claim such as Personal injury and loss of earnings, the claiming party is successful on one aspect but not the other.
4. Where you have used a credit hire vehicle and the claim is brought before court to claim for the outstanding credit hire and the court does not agree that the credit hire needs to be paid.

In these instances, you the claiming party could be held personally responsible to pay the legal fees of the other side.

This makes an ATE policy a vital tool in your fight against the wrong party to ensure that not only is your compensation protected but so are you!