We know just how important it is to support our customers in times of need. That’s exactly what our claims experts did after a life-altering construction site incident took place.
The incident
On this particular construction project, our customer (the insured) was appointed as the employer’s agent. They were working alongside other third parties on the project. These included a main contractor, sub-contractor, and a health and safety adviser.
On the construction site, the area in question was a lift that had been earmarked for removal. The lift area had been cordoned off as planned, however no further instructions were made to any of the parties working on-site. An employee of one of the third parties decided to attempt removal of cables within the lift. This unfortunately resulted in catastrophic injuries after it fell on them.
The claim
RSA were made aware of a claim by the injured third-party employee, as it was being progressed against all parties on the project. The claim quantum was stated to be close to £10 million.
The main contractor and the sub-contractor were both heavily fined by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and ended up ceasing trading. Therefore, no insurance cover was available. Our customer was then effectively one of the ‘last men standing’ in a quasi-construction/personal injury claim.
Our customer had taken out a Professional Indemnity policy with RSA, with an indemnity limit of £1 million. The Health and Safety co-defendant had an indemnity limit of £250,000. Therefore, there was a large risk of uninsured losses being pursued against our customer personally.
Despite a wealth of evidence supporting our customer’s position that they were not liable, the claimant’s solicitor pursued the claim. The solicitor used the protection of QOCS (Qualified One-Way Cost Shifting) to press on with litigation and ignore any opposing evidence. QOCS is a legal principle that limits a losing claimant’s liability for the defendant’s legal costs. This means they can pursue claims with little financial risk, even when the evidence is not in their favour.
We were fully committed to securing the best possible outcome for our customer. We wanted to build on a strong, evidence-based argument, anticipating counterclaims, and strategically navigating the litigation process. RSA’s Counsel set the prospects of success for this case in our customer’s favour at 75-80% - a level so high it was almost unprecedented.
Throughout this challenging process, the RSA claims handler liaised closely with our customer. This reassured them that we, and our specialist legal panel of solicitors, were using every avenue to attempt to extricate our customer from the proceedings.
The outcome
Following 3 years of liaisons with the claimant’s solicitor, and with a trial date set for less than a month away, a mediation was agreed between all parties. This consisted of the co-defendant’s limit of indemnity pot of £250,000, with a proviso our customer wouldn’t pursue them for costs. RSA agreed to the offer, but it was contingent on our customer being released from the action.
The claimant accepted the offer without pushback, and without any contribution by our customer. This was an excellent result and a positive outcome, resulting in a saving in defence costs of circa £200,000.
Our customer was overwhelmingly relieved and pleased with the outcome, knowing that RSA stood by them when it mattered most. We were able to deliver results instead of disappearing in their time of need
