If you’re transporting animals, you need to be aware of the regulations to protect the welfare of livestock. But what happens if you’re investigated for breaches of those regulations? Do you have the resources to defend yourself and protect your business? When facing serious allegations, you need expert legal advice and representation.
The scenario:
The insured runs a pig farming business. The company transported a quantity of pigs to a local abattoir using its own vehicle and driver.
What happened?
When the vehicle arrived at the abattoir, it was found that several pigs were already dead, with further animals being in such a poor condition that they had to be shot immediately.
The County Council trading standards department started an investigation into the incident, looking into whether the company had failed to meet its obligations under the Animal Transport Regulations and/or Animal Welfare Regulations.
rradar worked with the client, reassuring them concerning the legal process and examining the circumstances of the case in detail.
The outcome
With the assistance of rradar’s legal team, the company provided a written response to questions, setting out their systems and procedures and highlighting that the fault in this case was due to driver error – he had fallen short of the standards that they expected and had acted contrary to the extensive training that he had received.
The council was satisfied that the company had no case to answer and no further action was taken. The client was therefore able to avoid significant fines which could have seriously damaged their business. Total cost for legal fees in the handling of this claim were just over £2,500.
Something to think about
Under Rural Protect defence cases there is no prospect of success clause, meaning that when quality cover is required, the policy will react. Many legal expenses policies not only contain an initial prospect of success clause of 51% or above, but this is a further requirement throughout a claim in order for the policy to continue cover.
This is not the case with Rural Protect.
Investigation costs are covered as standard; where other legal expenses policies in the market don’t typically cover these costs either, before they can reach their prospect of success ratio.
