The Three Products Are Fee Shifting Insurance, Attorney’s Fees Insurance, And Contingency Fee Insurance.
Co-contributors Mike and Marc met with James Blick, director of The Judge Group, which operates under the name TJ Insurance Services in California (with its office in Irvine) and makes available three attorney’s fees insurance products for consideration by litigants and their counsel. All three products are offered after there is underwriting due diligence by the insurer, with premiums based on the nature of the case, the time at which insurance is sought in the case, and other underwriting factors.
The first product is fee shifting insurance, which operates as a “hedge” against an adverse award of attorney’s fees. Most frequently, this product is underwritten in breach of contract cases with contractual fees clauses or cases subject to Civil Code section 1717 reciprocity principles.
The second product is attorney’s fees insurance, with the insured party being a plaintiff desiring to insure against the risk that plaintiff will not recoup all of its legal spend in a case as a result of a negative outcome or a less-than-expected fee recovery.
The third product is contingency fee insurance, with a law firm working on a contingency arrangement being the insured. This product will insure an income loss for the contingency attorney if the case is unsuccessful or results in a low fee recovery.
All of these products can include “contingent premium” features, where the insurer obtains a larger premium in the event of a positive litigation outcome or fee award. However, the premiums are set, according to Mr. Blick, based on the unique underwriting process applied to a particular outcome.
Although this blog has no affiliation with The Judge Group, we thought these products should be called to the attention of interested litigants and their counsel. Mr. Blick can be reached at 877.766.8958 or at [email protected].
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