Insurance can be useful in nuisance cases (it is hardly ever available for judicial review). Many household insurance policies include legal expenses insurance, and nuisance proceedings may well be covered. It is always worth checking your policy (even in judicial review cases).

There are two types of legal insurance:

  • Insurance you may have in place before you know you have a problem, known as legal expenses insurance (also as “Before the Event” or “BTE” insurance).
  • Insurance you can buy when you are faced with dealing with costs exposure when you are deciding to take a case, known as “After the Event” or “ATE” insurance.

BTE insurance is often included on household policies either as standard or for a small add-on. It is particularly useful for dealing with liability for opponents’ costs in civil nuisance claims, as well as own-side costs and disbursements. It will sometimes cover statutory nuisance claims too, where you will not usually have liability to opponents, but will need to cover your own costs.

Your insurers will usually want to refer the matter to a panel solicitor with whom they have business arrangements, but they can be persuaded otherwise, particularly in situations that are likely to come to court, because in such cases people have an automatic right to use the solicitor of their choice. To benefit from BTE, it is essential even if you think you might have a claim about something, and might have cover, to notify your insurers within the time specified in the policy. However, if there is time in hand, we recommend you discuss with us first and we can make contact on your behalf. Insurers will seldom pay retrospectively i.e. not until a claim is notified and cover agreed.

Cover will be subject to some limit, from £25,000 upwards. Depending of course on the BTE insurance limit, a combination of own-side and opponent’s costs can become used up in a case, so a careful eye must be kept on costs budgeting. However, it usually provides a significant amount of cover in order to allow you to get on with your claim, and indeed, depending on the financial limit, may well keep you covered throughout.

ATE insurance is expensive and is really a form of costs-sharing with a commercial provider who will stand to gain a substantial premium if you win the case. It can be useful in civil nuisance cases to cover exposure to opponents’ costs, as well as own-side disbursements and sometimes even your own solicitors’ costs, but less so where the remedy sought is an injunction rather than damages. Unfortunately, the rules were changed a few years ago such that the premium is no longer recoverable as costs in the litigation. We can advise on this and/or put you in touch with specialist brokers as necessary. ATE insurance too is subject to limits of cover and needs to be carefully monitored.

With both types of insurance, providers will require a positive assessment of prospects of success, and being kept updated as matters progress.