Insurance & Reinsurance—claims co-operation and control clauses

Produced in partnership with Ed Anderson of Browne Jacobson , Lisa Henty of Browne Jacobson and Sam Zaozirny of Browne Jacobson

Practice notes

Insurance & Reinsurance—claims co-operation and control clauses

Produced in partnership with Ed Anderson of Browne Jacobson , Lisa Henty of Browne Jacobson and Sam Zaozirny of Browne Jacobson

Practice notes

Introduction to claims co-operation and control clauses

All liability insurance policies are policies of indemnity, under which an insurer agrees to indemnify a policyholder against liability to a third party. The position used to be that an insured could only claim the indemnity once they themselves had made payment but in Post Office v Norwich Union Fire Insurance Society Ltd, the court confirmed that the right to be indemnified arose once the insured’s liability was ascertained by agreement or judgment.

In addition, under liability policies insurers will also agree to indemnify the insured for all costs incurred in defending third party claims. These will sometimes be subject to a requirement of consent, not to be unreasonably withheld.

If a claim is within a policy limit, other than any excess or deductible, insurers will have all the financial exposure in respect of the claim itself. Insurers may also be the only one with the expertise and resources necessary to deal with

Ed Anderson

Solicitor, Browne Jacobson

Ed is a partner at Browne Jacobson. Until 2008 he was London Head of Financial and Professional Risk and returned to the firm in 2017 having spent almost 10 years growing the legal and financial professional indemnity team at Beale and Company Solicitors.

Ed has spent almost 30 years defending professionals facing large and complex negligence claims. He mainly acts on behalf of other solicitors, accountants, actuaries, insurance brokers and financial advisers. He also acts for financial institutions and advises insurers on coverage disputes across all classes of business.

Lisa Henty

Senior Associate, Browne Jacobson

I assist professionals and their insurers in defending pre action and litigated claims brought against them. They are normally founded in negligence and/or breach of statutory obligations and/or breach of contract. The work I usually undertake includes defending claims against solicitors, barristers, accountants, financial advisors, brokers and property professionals. I also provide coverage advice to insurers which mostly relates to the extent of cover, whether particular exclusions apply or whether claims can aggregate which can have a huge impact on the extent of cover/the excess to be applied.

Sam Zaozirny

Senior Associate, Browne Jacobson

Sam specialises in insurance/reinsurance policy coverage and dispute resolution acting on behalf of reinsurers, reinsureds and their insureds, both in the UK and worldwide.

Sam has particular experience in professional indemnity, political violence, financial institutions/D&O, commercial property, cyber and Artificial Intelligence. She regularly acts on high value, multi-jurisdictional disputes advising on both policy application and commercial strategy.

Sam has provided non-contentious insurance and reinsurance advice including advising on policy wordings, compliance with international sanctions and FCA regulation.

Sam also has advocacy experience, having appeared regularly in the County Courts in the UK and the District and Supreme Courts in Australia.

Jurisdiction(s):

United Kingdom

Key definition:

Reinsurance definition

What does Reinsurance mean?

An insurance policy covering an insurer’s exposure to a policy or class of policies that it has insured. Proportional reinsurance is written on an agreed percentage of risk, as opposed to non-proportional or excess of loss insurance, which responds once the limit of the underlying layers have been eroded.

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