You wouldn’t expect a pesky bunch of newts to be at the heart of a £150,000 insurance pay out, would you?
And neither did the property developer in this story. In fact, when he was told to stop work by the Environment Agency, he thought it was a joke!
Apparently an inspector had been picnicking with his family nearby and had spotted a Great Crested Newt. But because the newts are classed as an endangered species, the property developer was breaking the law by disturbing their habitat.
Fortunately for the developer, he had already taken out Management Liability Insurance (sometimes called directors’ and officers’ liability insurance) which protects both the company and its directors against allegations of committing a wrongful act (newts included!). Their insurer engaged specialist consultants who found that instead of Great Crested Newts in the pond, they were in fact, just plain old regular newts.
So, £150,000 later (which was covered by the insurer) the Environment Agency accepted this and the developer could continue his project.
What’s the moral of this story?
1: Consider if you could benefit from Management Liability Insurance
2: Never judge a newt by its cover.