The Grenfell Tower disaster was tragic from a purely human perspective. However, it has had monumental consequences for professionals and their professional indemnity insurers as regards exposure to claims and availability of insurance.
The Government is implementing plans to make homes in the UK safer and improve rights of redress for owners / occupiers of homes. These plans will have significant ramifications for professionals and their professional indemnity insurers.
Learning objectives
At the end of this Briefing, delegates will be able to:
- Summarise key legislative changes made by the Building Safety Act 2022.
- Describe the impact that those legislative changes may have on the scope for professional negligence claims.
- Understand “Grenfell Type” professional liability claims and defences including by reference to recent court decisions.
Robert Lloyd
Robert has more than twenty-five years of experience as a solicitor with expertise in dispute resolution relating to insurance, construction, professional negligence, professional conduct, statutory liabilities, reinsurance, shipping and legal costs. He has handled many cases concerning architects’, engineers’ and contractors’ professional and contractual liabilities, often with significant technical dimensions, in a variety of industries including energy and transport. He also has extensive experience in relation to liabilities of financial advisers and actuaries.
Robert also advises on policy coverage, acting in policy disputes and drafting wordings. he has acted for diverse clients in the London insurance market during this time and is committed to reinforcing the value of their products. Robert has particular interest in some of the more unusual professional indemnity covers including D&C policies and single project policies as well as reinsurance treaties and other types of liability cover including contingency insurance and marine covers including CCL. He has lectured to professional audiences on the challenges of D&C covers and has conducted risk audits for insurers.
Sam Moore
Sam specialises in professional indemnity claims and policy coverage disputes. His practice is focused on a diverse range of professionals including architects, engineers, insurance brokers and solicitors as well as building contractors. He acts in relation to a wide range of matters from those which are high value and complex to those that are lower value and less complex. He has also dealt with significant property damage claims. He acts in court proceedings as well as at the pre-action stage of claims. He also frequently acts in arbitrations, adjudications and mediations. His proactive, innovative and commercial approach has resulted in impressive results for both insureds and their insurers.
Sam’s previous experience includes having worked as a claims handler for another large professional indemnity practice. He has also undertaken secondments at different insurers. This experience means that Sam has a good insight into both insurers’ and insureds’ requirements. This experience has helped Sam develop different legal advice schemes to enable insureds and insurers to reduce or mitigate their exposure to claims.
