It is often surprising to encounter the diversity of the disputes we are invited to and do insure. We do not exclude any particular type of dispute from consideration simply because it does not “tick a box”.
As a result, the list of case types is not intended to be comprehensive but illustrative.
Lakehouse does not insure personal injury or clinical negligence, regardless of value.
This includes a range of disputes from the existence or otherwise of a contract or whether clauses of the contract have been breached and the financial consequences of the breach. It can include claims for injunctions required to prevent, for example, dilution of assets gained as a result of the breach of contract.
These types of claims are very varied in their nature. Often liability is not the major issue but the extent to which damages, if any, flow from the actual breach of duty. This is an increasingly complex and arcane area of the law in the United Kingdom.
A fertile area, sadly, for continued litigation, despite the efforts of the Regulator to prevent such mis-selling occurring in the first instance. It can take a number of forms, e.g. concealed commissions, transferring a final salary pension scheme into an unregulated and high risk and highly inappropriate investment vehicle or the mis-selling of time shares.
We are able to assist both businesses and individuals in respect of claims against businesses operating in breach of competition regulations or for operating Cartels.
We insure these disputes in respect of claims for high earning individuals who have claims that exceed the jurisdiction of the Employment Disputes Tribunal and which are conducted in the High Court or arbitration. By their very nature, these are “David and Goliath” disputes where the individual requires ATE to protect themselves from the disastrous financial consequences of a lost claim.
These disputes often pit seemingly powerless individual shareholders against defendants who have control of the assets which are being used or abused, regardless of the interests of the minority shareholders. Providing ATE insurance to minority shareholders in these disputes is very helpful in restoring the balance of power and achieving a just result.
We have experience of insuring these types of dispute from claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, disputed validity of Wills as well as claims arising from promissory estoppel, e.g. where family members have been persuaded to act in a particular way having been promised certain assets only to discover that the promise has not been fulfilled.
We have insured cases against the United Kingdom Government e.g. arising from the financial consequences of their failure to implement European Union Law. We are prepared to back individuals and businesses in these disputes which we know others are not prepared to do, not because of the lack of merits, rather, they do not want to be seen supporting claims against the Government.
We are willing to insure group actions for any merit based case with sensible damages arising from any of the categories above. We have designed mechanisms which enable individuals within the group to settle their claims where defendants try to disrupt the group by “picking off” individuals.
Lakehouse Legal Risk (Lakehouse) is led by Michael Lent, a solicitor with 30 years experience of commercial litigation in private practice and a decade of experience and involvement in underwriting ATE insurance and funding commercial litigation.
Who we areMichael practised for 30 years in commercial litigation before becoming an Underwriter on after the event basis of litigation insurance. His experience assists in the efficient assessment of the risks and finding practical solutions to assist claimants.
ml@lakehouserisk.com