Movers, shakers, lawyers
A MEDIUM-SIZED earthquake in Los Angeles is the least of Lloyd's of London's worries. Charge it to the advertising bud- get, along with the cost of Michael Jack- son's youth work. Risks are an insurer's stock in trade, and the good insurer pays when they come up. No one is offering to excuse Lloyd's members from that. They have written contracts of insurance as indi- vidual sole traders, and those contracts are binding on them. The best they can hope is that, if they stand to lose money, they may be able to recoup some of their loss by suing the people who let them in for it. These are the claims covered by the settle- ment now on offer through Lloyd's. The most vocal members and some of those hardest hit have been saying this week that they would rather take their chances in the courts. I cannot say that I would. The litiga- tion will take years and cost a fortune and the lawyers will insist on being paid first, whoever wins. The members would do bet- ter to get Lloyd's to clear its valuable City site, realise and distribute the proceeds, and re-erect the building in California, on the San Andreas Fault. That would move the market closer to its customers, and if the Big One comes, they and Lloyd's would at least go down together.
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