Legal & General Sunk Itself?

When you hide something, it's bound to come out. Some people will snoop around and expose it, with both positive and negative implications.

Legal & General might have sunk itself as analysts found that its capital buffers are lower than its target solvency capital ratio of 169 per cent. While it satisfies the insurer requirement of 100 per cent, it places itself on a weaker spot as it did not hit JPMorgan's expectations of 180 per cent.

It said "In our view, Legal & General has a higher risk balance sheet compared to Standard Life and Aviva and thus a ratio lower that is less impressive to us."

But then again, even when you're profiting, if your downline isn't solid, the roots can give out at any time and it can mean trouble.

According to Legal & General Chief Executive NIgel Wilson:

"We have a robust business model which has proved to be adept and resilient in dealing with fiscal and regulatory changes in our sector.

"We are planning for more global economic and market volatility and are well positioned for continued pressure on pricing and changes."

Other analysts, such as Hargreaves Lansdown's Steve Clayton pointed out that Legal and General had rebased its dividends upwards, indicating only progress in the near future.

Fund Managers Should Never Ignore The Risks Their Investments Make Against The Climate

ClientEarth, a green-centred legal firm, said fund managers that make investment decisions without concern about the environment could face legal action. As the risk of global warming continues, its effects against the world economy could affect all kinds of investments. Any investment group 

should not be concerned with profit when the environment is at stake.

I support this move, truthfully.

“Clients of investment firms and beneficiaries of pension funds might have a legal case to bring if those who manage money for them stand idly by as emissions erode the value of their stock,” said 

Howard Covington, the former CEO of a £20bn asset management company and a trustee of environmental law organisation, ClientEarth. “We are currently exploring such a possibility.”

James Thornton, CEO of ClientEarth, said: “To produce a wholesale change in attitude, a court ruling on the obligations of fiduciary investors to control systemic climate risk will probably be needed. 

Because of the uncertainties in estimating future climate damage, this will not be an easy case to bring. But we anticipate that such a case will ultimately succeed.”

ClientEarth successfully sued the UK government in 2015 over illegal levels of air pollution. It has also helped investors file shareholder resolutions at the annual meetings of major mining companies demanding more transparency on the risks of climate change to their businesses.

Source: The Guardian.

The World's Becoming A Bit Scarier Every Second

I know you've watched a dystopian film. If you haven't, you're lying. If you've watched The Hunger Games, that's a dystopian film. Yes, it's sci-fi and it features some attractive leads. But the point is, they're oppressed, human rights are violated and well, the word "individuality" carries not much weight anymore.

The original idea of dystopia probably came from the novel by George Orwell called "1984". It alienated the individual by force injecting the ideas of the political party down the veins of every citizen. That would mean private life is also monitored regularly.

Privacy is becoming an issue today with 1984's "Big Brother" taking form through the Internet. China is making a move now as it forces tech companies to create backdoors when in Chinese soil.

Urgh.

Apple CEO Tim Cook contended against Western leaders and world governments that privacy is compromised when companies are forced to create backdoors - decryption keys to read encrypted private messages - it would mean that it's a passageway for anybody with the means to do so to decrypt all private messages. That would mean the end of privacy.

China has made it into law as part of their counter-terrorism efforts against militants and political activists.

But yes, you might say China is a big infringer of human rights, with their Sina Weibo Twitter-service-a-like under consistent government surveillance and censorship.

But if this idea spreads to others and sees the way China's privacy handling does some positives, they would push for it.

And that could mean trouble for us.

Law Society Reacts To Small Claims Court Limits Rise For Personal Injury

According to the UK's Law Society, the Chancellor's proposal to increase the small claims court limit from £1000 to £5000 would leave many personal injury victims from road accidents without proper legal advice.

Law Society President Jonathan Smithers pointed out that the "fivefold increase in the present level of cases currently within the small claims procedure" only makes it difficult for victims to traverse the small claims court without legal advice. They will be forced to represent themselves.

Smithers pointed out that insurers have every resource to gain legal advice, making it unfair for victims in the process.

The proposals was a result of the Chancellor's survey with insurers regarding the £2 billion yearly loss to fraudulent and exaggerated soft tissue injuries. Whiplash injuries, which have no immediate symptoms of injury, merit more than £4000 from insurers.

According to medical experts, anybody who claims to have whiplash, even without proper health documentation, can earn recompense at any amount.

However, the Law Society President said that if the government implements its plans, the limit will also apply to facial scarring, which can merit more than £10,000 in recompense.

UK Libel Cases Count Reduced By One-Third

With "serious harm" a required evidence for any type of libel case, the UK's Defamation Act of 2013 had the number of cases drop by 30 per cent this year alone.

Thomson-Reuters reports that the number of defamation cases in the United Kingdom had fallen to 63 from 86 cases, which many argue is the lowest level it had reached in the last six years.

The new libel laws acted as a foil against trivial libel cases that allowed anybody, especially prominent UK figures, the ability to file libel against small criticisms done mostly by columnists and journalists.

“The new act offers stronger protections to those accused of making defamatory statements,” said Harry Kinmonth, a senior associate in the media team at City law firm RPC. “Fewer trivial defamation cases are now making it to court as a result, and claimants are looking to bring alternative causes of action.”

Social Media Defamation On The Rise

Despite the law, social media defamation continues to rise.

According to Thomson-Reuters' Practical Law Service contributor Harry Kinmonth:

“Someone is far more likely to find themselves the subject of online postings than of stories in the more traditional media. And there is the perception that such postings risk being shared widely and at speed. As a result, claimants view the potential for damage to be high.”

Kinmonth added that social media usually focuses on individuals who post the erroneous or libellous information and not the social network itself.

A Tale Of Two Abortion Laws

Scotland didn't win the independence vote during the referendum because people believed the new devolution powers will give the government a shot at staying in the UK and avoiding a host of problems with sovereignty.

With new powers comes duplicates of laws devolved for the Scotland government's personal use. However, this is necessary, according to Scottish Secretary David Mundell. He said there's no "convincing constitutional reason" why the move should not move forward.

One of these is the abortion laws.

Hasty Devolution

Abortion traffic is a primary concern among Scottish politicians. As Britain's own rules increase the difficulty of obtaining standard abortion services, Scotland's new laws will increase this traffic and increase the cross-border problems of the country.

Women and human rights organizations said the adoption of new abortion laws may be a hasty devolution of Scottish laws. The government is also warned that it could create a "differential and discriminatory impact on women and girls in Scotland."

End of Life Issues    

According to Mundell, the Scottish Government has the right to deal with end of life issues. With powers extending to the NHS and criminal justice in Scotland, abortion law, even if a duplicate of Britain's own laws, is Scotland's own laws.

“I do not see a convincing constitutional reason for why abortion law should not be devolved and that is what has led me to this decision. What will follow is proper engagement with interested parties as we take this matter forward," he said.

MedCo Procedures Under Fire from Claimant and Insurance Lawyers

Disgruntled legal representatives negatively expressed their opinion of MedCo's new whiplash case medical reports that hinted at 'gaming' the system.

The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers blamed MedCo for lax screening, auditing and accreditation of firms even before their online system started. They added MedCo had not optimised the use of technology because using technology to stand out from competitors will have no choice regarding the medical reporting organisations they would use.

Other lawyers, including Kennedys that represents several motor insurers worldwide had called for transparency for MedCo's new process to minimise which firms are instructing medical experts. MedCo's aim should be the breaking of financial relationships between solicitors and experts or medical reporting organisations. The change of objective would provide a source of good-quality, transparent experts for claimants.

Many observers said MROs are just data collection tools where insurers harvest information from medical experts with some believing that private experts should not report to MedCo.

Kennedys added that whiplash claims had created bad behaviours and transparency, not monetization or system 'gaming' is required. Head and Partner of Kennedy's Motor Practice 

Niall Edwards from Kennedys said MedCo will need proper audit procedures in place and proper information management to minimise bad behaviours. He said the complexity of systems makes them vulnerable to exploitation that could lead to undesired resolutions.