Brightside settles £2m Southern Rock PI lawsuit

Brightside Group has settled its £2m lawsuit with a number of insurers over a payments dispute for a Howden policy.

In January, it was reported that Brightside was taking legal action against Howden and insurers AIG, QBE and CNA, claiming they failed to pay a professional indemnity policy following a fallout with founder Arron Banks and his Gibraltar-based insurer, Southern Rock..

Brightside accused Howden of being “negligent” during the Banks fallout, court papers showed. Howden was Brightside’s professional indemnity broker during this process.

Brightside v Banks and Southern Rock

According to the claims form, Brightside had a limited binding authority agreement with Banks’ Southern Rock. Brightside said it placed more than half of its private and commercial motor business with the insurer.

But when Banks left Brightside in 2012, the relationship fell apart, leading to both companies filing lawsuits against each other.

Southern Rock accused Brightside of breaching policy validation, wrongful reissuing of cancelled cover and placement failure.

The broker agreed to pay Southern Rock £1.5m. On top of this, Brightside had £522,222 in legal costs to pay.

Brightside v Howden

When it came to recouping the £2.2m costs from the Howden-broked professional indemnity insurance cover, the insurers rejected the claim.

It was claimed that Brightside failed to declare its binding authority agreements with Southern Rock, something the broker refuted, saying it declared all business arrangements.

Settled

After months of dispute, the suit appears to have been settled.

Brightside and AIG were contacted for comment, but both declined.