Top 5 FAQs
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Insurance companies will be dealing with many hundreds of thousands of claims as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Our panel of solicitors will ensure that your claim is presented properly and calculated accurately. That means you should be at the front of the queue when insurance companies pay out and there is less likelihood of your claim being returned to you because of missing information or insufficient data.
In addition, our panel of solicitors will quantify your losses to ensure you get the maximum pay out you deserve and will not allow the insurance company to escape their responsibility.
> After you have submitted your online enquiry form, we will request a copy of your business insurance policy. An initial assessment of your documents will determine whether or not you may be eligible to claim.
> If so, your case will be sent on to our panel of solicitors for a more in-depth review of your policy wording.
> If they think your case has prospects of success they will take the case on, on a ‘No Win, No Fee basis’.
> If your case is successful the solicitor may take up to 25% of the damages you receive from your insurance company, reflecting the work they have undertaken on your behalf. Although, this will be subject to your individual circumstances and the actual fee may be more or less.
Follow the link below to start your claim:
If you feel that your insurer has unfairly refused to pay out under the terms of your policy, our panel of solicitors will give you the option of bringing legal action against them. This may force the insurer to re-evaluate their position and decide to pay the policy.
We are happy to be able to offer a free assessment of your insurance policy, if eligible to claim the solicitor will act on your behalf on a ‘No Win, No Fee’ basis.
No Win, No Fee is a term used to describe an agreement between a Solicitor and a Claimant. It states that in this instance, the Claimant cannot be charged if their Business Interruption insurance claim is unsuccessful.
However, if your case is successful the solicitor may take up to 25% of the compensation awarded, although this will be subject to your individual circumstances and the actual fee may be more or less than this.
In some circumstances the solicitor may wish to insure the case with an “after the event” insurance policy, this will be done on a case by case basis. If you terminate the agreement with your solicitor outside of the ‘cooling off’ period or before the case is concluded you may be charged for the work done on your behalf. The charges are calculated on a hourly rate. The hourly rate may differ according to the geographical location and experience of the solicitor.
To start your claim we will need a copy of your insurance policy documents that covered you during the forced closure of your business in March 2020 and a copy of any renewal documents:
• Insurance Certificate.
• Policy Schedule (7-8 pages long, includes headlines of what is included in your policy).
• Policy Wording (full insurance policy 40-100 pages long).
Should you not be able to locate your documents, we would recommend that you personally contact your insurer to obtain it.
Our panel of solicitors have achieved success for a number of businesses across the country in a number of different sectors. Please click the link below to read an article about a pub owner who achieved success using our panel of solicitors: https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/19140520.dyke-pub-brighton-saved-thanks-28-000-settlement/
General
In accordance with the Public Health Act 1984 and the Health Protection Regulations 2010, there is an obligation to report certain diseases to the government. These diseases are known colloquially as notifiable diseases. The government keeps a register of such diseases for the protection of public health. Covid-19 or coronavirus was added to this list earlier on in 2020.
You should contact your insurance company immediately and ask them for copies of your policy documents, schedule, certificate and booklet. They are duty bound to provide these to you. As soon as you receive these documents forward them on to us and we will begin conducting your free assessment.
It is impossible to tell you at this stage how long the insurance company will take to pay your claim. What we can say is that the solicitor will work hard on your behalf to hold the insurance company to account and make sure that they pay you as promptly and as efficiently as possible.
The short answer is no, anybody who suffers a loss has a duty to mitigate that loss. That means a person or a business that is suffering a loss has to do the best they can to minimise it so that they can get back to work as soon and as quickly as possible. Applying for government grants and using the 80% salary furlough scheme, is exactly the sort of thing that is envisaged by mitigating your loss. The insurer cannot use it against you, that is to say they cannot simply deny your claim exists at all. However, when the panel of solicitors are calculating your losses, they will have to take into account, things that you have paid and you have not paid. You cannot claim for staff wages if you have had 80% of them paid by the government, you can only claim if you have made the 20% top up yourself.
If your case is successful the solicitor may take up to 25% of the damages you receive from your insurance company, reflecting the work they have undertaken on your behalf. Although, this will be subject to your individual circumstances and the actual fee may be more or less.
We cannot tell you at this stage how likely it is that your claim will be successful. What we can say is that our panel of solicitors will only take your claim on if they think that your policy gives you a better chance than not of making a claim. Once they take your claim on they will be working on a no win, no fee basis, therefore, they’re only taking claims on where they think there is more than a 50% prospect of success.
Any business no matter how big or small can make a claim. You may have seen recently in the news that the All England Tennis Club have put in a claim for the loss of the Wimbledon Championships this year. It is not the size of the business that is important but the detail of the policy.
It is impossible to tell you how long an insurer will take to pay out a claim. The reality is, the insurers will be dealing with hundreds and thousands of claims from Business Interruption insurance. They simply do not have the resources to deal with these quickly and efficiently.
By using specialist services provided by our panel of solicitors we can ensure your claim is presented in the best possible manner, in a format that is easy for your insurance company to understand and set out in a way which will make it difficult for them to maintain an unreasonable denial.
In the vast majority of instances it has to be a Director or somebody with significant control of the company. The solicitors can take instructions from a Chief Executive, a Chief Financial Officer or a Director. They cannot take instructions from an employee of the company because they do not have the requisite authority to instruct the solicitor.
Business Interruption insurance can cover many different things, it depends on the terms and conditions of your policy and the coverage which you opted for at inception. Business Interruption can cover loss of trade, loss of business and loss of profit. Again, it depends on the terms and conditions contained within your policy.
Our panel of solicitors have been working on business interruption claims since the pandemic began.
Stratton Richards is a trading name of Fernard Ltd. Fernard Ltd. is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and has been marketing for the legal sector for over 6 years. For most of that time, our panel of solicitors have been holding insurance companies to account and making sure that they pay out whenever and wherever they are responsible.
Without looking through your policy, we cannot give you a definitive answer as every single business insurance policy now needs to be considered against the detailed judgement to calculate the specific implications for each one and we are happy to be able to offer this enhanced service at no charge.
Our panel of solicitors will conduct a free assessment of your insurance policy and scrutinise the small print so you don’t have to.
If eligible, they will work hard to quantify your losses and recover the best possible pay out from your insurer.
There may be a number of reasons why your insurer refuses to pay out. They may refuse to pay out simply because you do not have the requisite coverage on your policy. However, it is not uncommon for insurers to pay out where there is some debate as to whether or not coverage exists.
If you feel that your insurer has unfairly refused to pay out under the terms of your policy, our panel of solicitors will give you the option of bringing legal action against them. This may force them to re-evaluate their position and decide to pay the policy.
No, the government grants are available to all and are a short-term fix to help companies get through the immediate difficulties that they face. The government expects and fully understands that all companies will be making claims against their insurance policies. The grants and other offers from the government are simply to cover the short term gap whilst they wait for insurance companies to meet their obligations.
You may also pursue claims against your insurer directly or via the financial ombudsman. The option is there for anyone to simply contact their insurers and try and deal with the matter themselves. You must remember that there will be hundreds and thousands of people making these types of claims at the moment.
Our panel of solicitors will use their expertise to ensure that your claim is presented in such a manner that it is dealt with quickly and efficiently. They will also quantify your losses to ensure you get the maximum pay-out you deserve.
You will have a legal team fighting your corner and you may not have to take the insurers first answer.