Deal settles all claims and counter-claims between former sister companies
Broking firm Brightside and former sister insurer Southern Rock have settled their year-long legal battle out of court.
The terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but it includes dismissal of all claims and counter-claims between the two organisations.
This includes all disputes relating to intellectual property, breaches of trading agreements and breaches of terms of business agreements.
In May last year Gibraltar-based Southern Rock sued Brightside, accusing the broker of misusing its intellectual property – specifically the pricing and underwriting tables and guidelines developed for the eCar and eBike books of business.
Brightside bought eCar and eBike from Southern Rock in 2010 and Southern Rock continued to be the main capacity provider for the products.
Southern Rock then followed up with a second lawsuit, this time accusing the broker of failing to validate policies in accordance with Southern Rock’s terms of business agreement.
Brightside denied all Southern Rock’s allegations and filed a counter-suit, accusing Southern Rock, broking and claims unit Eldon Insurance Services and Southern Rock owner (and former Brightside chief executive) Arron Banks of conspiring “with the intent to damage and injure” Brightside.
Southern Rock, Eldon and Banks denied the claims in Brightside’s counter-suit.
The legal battle followed a split between the two companies after Banks stepped down as Brightside chief executive in June 2012. Southern Rock withdrew capacity from eCar in 2013.
Current Brightside chief executive Andrew Wallin said: “We are pleased to have reached a conclusion to these disputes. This resolution is positive for our customers, staff and partners and we are pleased to have put the matter to bed in an amicable way.
“This is an exciting time for Brightside as we continue to build an offer that is the natural choice for customers, partners, insurers and employees. We look forward to continuing our focus of providing the best possible service to customers.”
Southern Rock managing director Chris Gillighan added: “We and Eldon Insurance Services are pleased to have reached a settlement and conclusion of the recent disputes that we have had with Brightside.
“Both we and Eldon believe that this resolution is positive for our customers, staff and partners and we are pleased to have resolved the matter in an amicable way and we both look forward to moving forward with our businesses and to providing a high quality of service to our customers.”
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