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Reasonableness and Proportionality ruling ends

clinical negligence report

The Court of Appeal in West v Stockport NHS Foundation Trust and Demouilpied v Stockport NHS Foundation Trust yesterday handed down a defining judgement on the application of the new reasonableness and proportionality rules.

This follows the 2015 decision in Nokes –v- Heart of England Foundation NHS Trust [2015] EWHC B6 (Costs) where Master Leonard found the Temple Legal Protection ATE insurance policy was fully compliant with the statutory requirements; the insurance premium of £5,680 + Insurance Premium Tax was also reasonable and proportionate.

Commenting on the new judgment, Matthew Best, Underwriting Manager for Temple’s Personal Injury & Clinical Negligence Team said “This decision allows us to continue with our current ATE insurance premium rating and reinforces the decision given by Master Leonard in Nokes. We anticipate paying parties in clinical negligence cases will be resolving ATE insurance premium disputes promptly in order to avoid further unnecessary legal costs.”

He went on to say “As a rule the ATE insurance market operates responsibly in providing access to justice for clinical negligence claims and the threat of unworkable constraints is not helpful to anyone. Any further disputes should be avoidable, unless an ATE provider’s pricing is out of kilter, in which case a further test case may result. As it stands, this judgment should break the log-jam and I would hope that any further high-level decisions could be expected to be consistent with this one.”

Matthew Best Cert CII

Head of Personal Injury & Clinical Negligence
Read articles by Matthew Best Cert CII

Matthew Best Cert CII

Matt has an insurance background and joined Temple in 2011 having worked for 4 years in a leading insurance company where he was dealing with personal injury work. Matthew was promoted to Underwriting Manager and subsequently Senior Underwriting Manager taking on overall responsibility for Temple’s personal injury and clinical negligence underwriting department.

In 2022 Matt joined the board of directors as Director of ATE Partnerships. Matthew has cultivated fantastic relationships with our business partners for many years. His ability to build a clear understanding of their requirements and more importantly what is required to fulfil such requirements means he is ideally placed to support the strategic direction of the company.

Matt remains the head of the personal injury and clinical negligence department and is committed to all Temple’s business partners in order to deliver the highest level of service they expect. He is also responsible in making sure that Temple’s ATE and disbursement funding products remain competitive, but most importantly that they are fit for purpose for solicitors and their clients.

 

Read articles by Matthew Best Cert CII