Free Choice of Lawyer
Directive 87/344/EEC on the coordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to legal expenses insurance aims at precluding as far as possible any conflict of interest arising out of the fact that the insurer is covering a person in respect of both legal expenses insurance and other classes, in particular liability insurance, or is covering legal expenses of both parties of a dispute.
The Directive foresees as one possibility to resolve conflicts of interests the right of the insured to freely choose his lawyer. In September 2009 the European Court of Justice ruled for the first time on the right to the free choice of lawyer and had to juxtapose and define the scope of the insurer’s power to manage and handle a claim against the insured person’s right to choose his lawyer as granted by the legal expenses insurance Directive.
RIAD Members welcome this judgment because it increases legal certainty for insured persons as well as for insurers about the interpretation of the Directive regarding the prerequisites and the scope of the free choice of lawyer according in particular to Article 4 (1) (a). In this respect, insurers acknowledge that, where an inquiry or proceedings are initiated, the right to choose a lawyer or other person appropriately qualified according to national law does not depend on the occurrence of a conflict of interest, has an obligatory nature and must generally be applied.