Shipowners’ Club has launched Legal Costs Cover (LCC), an expanded offering of its former LADC. LCC will be incorporated into the Rules as of February 20th 2017. The announcement follows Shipowners’ amendments to 2017 Club rules, announced yesterday, January 11th.
The Rules have been amended with the view to simplifying the cover and more closely aligning it to the Club’s P&I cover. Aside from the rebranding, the main difference is a move away from the discretionary nature of the cover to a system whereby a claim will be supported if there are reasonable prospects of success. What constitutes reasonable prospects of success is detailed in the revised Club Rules. The Board of Directors has also given the Managers delegated authority to support LCC claims on the above criteria, eliminating the need to refer claims to the Board on a quarterly basis. Shipowners Club said that “the move towards the Managers exercising this authority will provide greater flexibility, which can be vital in fast moving litigation”.
Shipowners’ LCC team is currently comprised of 12 qualified lawyers and two trainees across its London and Singapore offices.