The claimant, incorporated in Texas, took global transportation insurance with the first defendant, a Texan company, to cover its businesses in Europe. Proceedings began in England to avoid the global transportation insurance policy issued in Texas. The judge set aside service on one defendant and stayed the proceedings against the other, saying the contract was not governed by English law. The claimant contended on appeal that the contract covered risks in several countries and was severable so as to be governed by the law of each country where a company was situated.
Held: Appeal dismissed The contract had significant composite elements and could not be regarded as severable into a series of contracts applying to individual companies in the group in order to invoke the law of the country where each was incorporated as the governing law of the contract; that where a contract failed to express its governing law, the 1982 and 1990 Acts provided alternative schemes, but each required an English court to act on the implied intention of the contracting parties as to the applicable law; both parties intended the insurance contract to be under Texan law.
Judges:
Lords Justice Kennedy, Mantell and Mance
Citations:
Gazette 09-May-2003
Statutes:
Insurance Companies Act 1982, Contract (Applicable Law) Act 1990
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – American Motorists Insurance Co (Amico) v Cellstar Corporation and Another ComC 15-Mar-2002
Parties sought leave to bring an action here in a context of several insurance and re-insurance contracts from differemt jurisdictions, but where the agreements themselves did not select a governing law.
Held: The governing law of an insurance . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Insurance, Jurisdiction
Updated: 11 June 2022; Ref: scu.183093