PriceWaterhouseCoopers to incur ‘€30m’ legal bill defending claim after auditing Quinn Insurance

Accountancy firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has estimated it will incur legal costs of more than €30.1m in defending a claim for €800m brought against it over its auditing of Quinn Insurance Ltd (QIL).

The case arises from QIL being placed in administration in June 2010 and the fact more than €1.2bn has so far been drawn down from the State’s Insurance Compensation Fund (ICF) to meet the deficit between the firm’s assets and liabilities.

In a pre-trial application, PwC has expressed concern whether QIL can pay PwC’s legal costs if QIL loses and it wants court orders requiring QIL provide security for those costs.