Two articles appeared in the 6 and 13 October 2011 editions of the Gazette, which contained a number of assertions concerning the arrangements employed by Royal and Sun Alliance Insurance plc (‘RSA’) for recovery of charges relating to repair of motor vehicles from other insurers.

RSA maintains that its arrangements are entirely legitimate and comply with established legal principles and that at no time has RSA sought to recover more than the reasonable cost of repairing its policyholders’ vehicles from any other insurer. RSA has applied to transfer a group of lead cases to the Commercial Court in order to contend that claims based on its repair recovery arrangements should be upheld.

The case in the Romford County Court discussed in those articles was decided on the basis of the evidence before it and RSA does not accept that it was correctly decided. The same legal issues at stake in that case will be determined in the lead cases and RSA believes that its position will be upheld. RSA utterly rejects any suggestion of improper conduct in relation to its repair arrangements.