1 December 2012
Jocelyn Ormond and Ros Ashcroft on how Monitor's approach to provider regulation is developing.
Published in Healthcare Market News on 1 December 2012.
22 November 2012
On 13 November, the European Commission launched its revised proposals to secure more places for women on the boards of listed companies. The EU’s objective is to achieve at least 40% women in non-executive directorships on the boards of publicly listed companies across Europe by 2020, or 2018 for listed public undertakings. Rather than making the 40% quota a legally binding obligation, as in its earlier proposals, the European Commission’s directive sets the same target but will not make achieving the target compulsory.
Published in Insurance Day on 22 November 2012.
15 November 2012
Over the past 24 months, cyber risk has rocketed up the corporate agenda and is now firmly established as a boardroom consideration. The precise nature of the associated risks continues to evolve at a rapid rate as technology advances. The outsourcing of data storage to third party technology cloud service providers has added a further dimension.
Published in Insurance Day on 15 November 2012.
10 November 2012
Introduced in 2003, SDLT has become one of the most unpopular taxes. John Dunlop considers issues of avoidance and how the system could be improved.
First published in Estates Gazette on 10 November 2012
7 November 2012
They say that to a man with a hammer every problem looks like a nail. This is something to bear in mind with the FSA's exercise of its new product intervention policy in Consultation Paper CP12/19 published at the end of August , particularly to see whether the nail has been hit on the head.
Published in Financial Adviser on 7 November 2012.
6 November 2012
A key decision of the Supreme Court hit the headlines in late October when 174 former Council workers were permitted to proceed with their equal pay claims in the High Court.
Published by Workplace Law
1 November 2012
As we head towards April 2013, it is perhaps appropriate to take stock of where things stand with regard to health and wellbeing boards: are they having an effect in shadow form and are they working in practice?
Published in Health Service Journal on 1 November 2012
25 October 2012
Strict liability under the Rylands v Fletcher rule has been considerably restricted, in cases of non-negligent fire damage to neighbouring properties, in the recent Court of Appeal decision in Stannard v Gore.
Published in Insurance Day on 25 October 2012.
12 October 2012
The case for integration in healthcare has been well and truly made. HealthInvestor magazine and DAC Beachcroft held a round table discussion where the industry’s leading figures debated the key issues around integration of care.
11 October 2012
Cyber risk presents a growing set of exposures for insureds, insurers, and reinsurers worldwide. As commerce increasingly moves online, and vast amounts of personal information increasingly reside in online databases, professionals who work in and with the insurance industry face increasing challenges, both in complying with regulations designed to mitigate against cyber risks and defending insureds when a data breach occurs.
Published by The Massachusetts Reinsurance Bar Association on 13 September.
3 October 2012
And indeed, it was ever thus. But did you appreciate that the choice of the seat of the arbitration will
"inevitably" result in the country of the seat being imported as the law of the arbitration process?
3 October 2012
Since 1 October 2011, a costs management pilot scheme has been operating in the Technology and Construction and Mercantile Courts. This is where construction, engineering and energy insurers (by reason of their insureds) may often find themselves. The pilot was due to end on 30 September 2012, but has been extended until the end of March 2013. In the future, this scheme has potentially broad implications for cost management and the recovery of costs for successful parties.
3 October 2012
Under new proposals by the FSA, financial advisers will be banned from promoting unregulated collective investment schemes (UCISs) to retail customers. Under current rules UCISs can only be promoted to retail investors if the adviser assesses the product as suitable for the customer.
3 October 2012
In June, Barclays was fined £290m after it admitted rigging LIBOR (the London Inter-Bank Offer Rate). Though it concerns a rate set in London, the scandal is of global significance – LIBOR is used as a benchmark to set payments on an estimated US$800 trillion of financial investments, from complex derivatives to simple mortgages. Investigations by UK and international regulators are ongoing and a large number of banks other than Barclays are co-operating with regulators' enquiries. Among the banks to have disclosed their involvement are RBS, HSBC, UBS, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Chase.
3 October 2012
EC Regulation 864/2007 (Rome II) has applied from 11 January 2009 and applies to all claims where the accident occurred after that date. The aim of Rome II was to harmonise and simplify the way claims with a cross border component are dealt with. The intention is that the law applying to a claim
would be the law of the country where the accident occurred, subject to certain exceptions. So an injury claim following an accident in Spain would mean Spanish law applied to liability, limitation, and both recoverable heads of loss and how those heads of loss are assessed.
3 October 2012
And so another new policy year begins, at the start of October, for those insurers writing primary layer solicitors' professional indemnity insurance. At this time of the year there is invariably much media attention on the state of the market, and this year is no exception, with attention being drawn to yet
more new market entrants such as Amtrust, Axis and Elite.
3 October 2012
"A short form market condition report, based entirely on a non-intrusive inspection, which can be used to decide whether the surveying profession represents suitable security for the PI cover requested"; let’s call it a Surveyor Evaluation Report ("SER"). Now that would be useful. This sector may
currently find itself in the intensive care ward, but the corner will undoubtedly turn and whoever makes the right call should find a rich seam of premium income to mine and an expectation that exposures over the medium term should be minimal. The big question is one of timing; when will the market
turn?
3 October 2012
On 14 August the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 (S1 2012/1916) came into effect, replacing most of the Medicines Act 1968 and about 200 statutory instruments with a simplified set of rules. They are the result of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency's (MHRA) consolidation and review of UK medicines legislation.
3 October 2012
Along with freshly sharpened pencils and conkers, September heralded the Chartered Institute of Loss Adjusters (CILA) annual technical conference. DAC Beachcroft participated on both days. On day 1, James Deacon spoke with the Law Commissioner David Hertzell on the Law Commission's latest consultation paper on business non-disclosure and warranties for both businesses and consumers. On day 2, Nick Young was the legal expert dealing with material damage and business interruption issues in a catastrophe scenario involving an earthquake in San Francisco and a tsunami travelling to Japan. Copies of the handouts from both days will be available shortly on the CILA website: http://www.cila.co.uk/node/2076
3 October 2012
The claim was a £109m subrogated recovery action arising from a fire in June 2005 that destroyed a popcorn factory in Pontefract. In 2011, Mr Justice Coulson decided that ADT, the provider of a fire suppression system which failed on the night of the fire, was in breach of an implied term to use reasonable skill and care when it designed the system. However, he held that the losses of Cadbury, as owner/operator of the factory, should be reduced to 25% on the basis that there had been contributory negligence. Both sides lodged appeals and the hearing took place in July 2012. The Court of Appeal delivered its judgment at the end of August, dismissing both appeals.