Negative publicity can have a devastating impact on your business. In an increasingly media-orientated world, information can be viewed, commented on and shared at the touch of a button and this can lead to reputational damage which can be impossible to recover from.
If a small business experiences damaging media attention it could be fatal to the business.
How can Legal Expenses Insurance Help?
Tapoly legal expenses insurance provides you with access to professional public relations expertise following an event which causes you significant adverse publicity. In the first instance, contact our Crisis Communication helpline.
Our experts will work with you and can help to draft a media statement or press release, prepare communications for business customers, staff or suppliers, compose a telephone or website script and social media messaging if needed.
Legal Expenses Insurance in Action – Illustrating How Valuable This Cover Can Be
A care home for the elderly turned to their insurer’s Crisis Communication service for advice when their local newspaper ran a story about an accident which had occurred at the home almost two years previously. The article featured a distressing photograph and it was thought that the report may have been linked to a further attempt by the resident’s family to obtain compensation. They had previously tried and failed to claim compensation from the care home.
The insurance policy covered the costs of a professional Public Relations consultant to respond to the adverse publicity and protect the care home’s reputation. They helped draft an email quickly to the editor seeking removal of the story from both the online edition of the publication and any further printed copies.
The email resulted in a partial but inadequate adjustment to the story. The consultant then provided the care home manager with a set of notes to shape a telephone call to the same editor. This phone call did the trick. The next day a correction and apology ran in the newspaper and on their website, which read: “We are happy to set the record straight and apologise to the home, its staff and any residents or families who may have been upset by this article.”
A correction and apology such as this is sometimes difficult for lawyers to achieve, even at considerable cost, and usually results in damage to any relationship with the media concerned.
The consultant’s professional fees which totalled over £1,000 were covered under the policy.
Get the Reassurance You Need with Legal Expenses Insurance
Hopefully, in the course of your business you will never have to experience a PR crisis, but if you do, at least you have the expertise and experience provided by your Legal Expenses Insurance to help to minimise the impact of such a communications crisis.