Not upheld: Motor insurance, claim handling complaint against QBE UK Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr T, a solicitor, complained that QBE unfairly settled professional negligence claims on his indemnity insurance policy without his knowledge or consent, including a waiver preventing him from pursuing the claimant for costs. QBE acknowledged it should have notified Mr T but argued the settlement was necessary and offered to pay the full amount of costs Mr T had sought. Mr T rejected this, seeking additional interest. The ombudsman found QBE's settlement decision reasonable on commercial grounds and its payment offer fair, as Mr T was not assured of recovering the full costs independently, and upheld QBE's position.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found QBE's decision to settle rather than resist the claims was reasonable on commercial grounds without obvious factual error. The ombudsman considered the costs waiver necessary to achieve settlement, as the claimant would not have agreed otherwise. While acknowledging QBE's failure to notify Mr T, the ombudsman reasoned that Mr T was not assured of recovering the full costs if he had pursued them, given the professional negligence context and potential for costs to be challenged. The offer of full payment was deemed fair compensation for the service failure.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website