Blowing policy limits
HOW do underwriters of a professional indemnity policy with a £2m ($3.9m) limit end up paying £3m to the claimants? The answer is s.51 of the Supreme Court Act 1981 which, as the recent case of Plymouth & South West Co-Operative Society Ltd v Architecture, Structure & Management Ltd (ASM) shows, allows claimants to recover costs directly from insurers in certain circumstances.