Category: Insurance

Lincoln National Life Insurance Company v Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada and others: ComC 26 Feb 2004

Judges:

Toulson J

Citations:

[2004] EWHC 343 (Comm), [2004] 2 CLC 36, [2004] 1 Lloyds Rep 737

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Michael Wilson and Partners Ltd v Sinclair and Others ComC 21-Sep-2012
The claimant company alleged that the defendants had variously received assests (shares and cash) acquired by a former partner in the claimant company and held on his behalf, in breach of his obligations to the caimant partnership. The defendants . .
Appealfrom – Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada and others v The Lincoln National Life Insurance Co CA 10-Dec-2004
The court considered the effect of findings in one arbitration on a subsequent arbitration. The arguments being directed to res judicata.
Held: Mance LJ pointed to important differences between litigation and arbitration as a consensual . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Arbitration, Insurance

Updated: 10 June 2022; Ref: scu.193948

Regina (Geologistics) v Financial Services Compensation Scheme: CA 18 Dec 2003

The claimant had made a claim against an insurance company which was insolvent. The claim had been paid by the Scheme, and he now sought payment by them of the costs of the claim also.
Held: The costs were payable. The construction of the sections sought by the appellant was too narrow.

Judges:

Thorpe, Waller, Latham LJJ

Citations:

Times 15-Jan-2004, [2003] EWCA Civ 1877

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Policyholder (Protection) Act 1975 6(4) 6(5)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – Geologistics Ltd, Regina (on the Application of) v Financial Services Compensation Scheme Admn 4-Mar-2003
. .

Cited by:

Appealed to – Geologistics Ltd, Regina (on the Application of) v Financial Services Compensation Scheme Admn 4-Mar-2003
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance, Insolvency, Costs

Updated: 09 June 2022; Ref: scu.193437

Society of Lloyd’s v Laws and others: ComC 28 Jan 2004

Judges:

The Honourable Mr Justice Cooke

Citations:

[2004] EWHC 71 (Comm), [2004] EWHC 130 (Comm)

Links:

Bailii, Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

See Also – Laws and others v The Society of Lloyd’s CA 19-Dec-2003
The applicants sought to amend earlier pleadings to add a claim that their human rights had been infringed by the 1982 Act, which gave the respondents certain immunities.
Held: The Human Rights Act 1998 was not retrospective. At the time when . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Torts – Other, Professional Negligence, Insurance

Updated: 09 June 2022; Ref: scu.192353

Laws and others v The Society of Lloyd’s: CA 19 Dec 2003

The applicants sought to amend earlier pleadings to add a claim that their human rights had been infringed by the 1982 Act, which gave the respondents certain immunities.
Held: The Human Rights Act 1998 was not retrospective. At the time when it should have been made, the amendment would have been doomed to failure by virtue of the 1982 Act. Lloyd’s had an accrued right under section 14(3) of the 1982 Act, namely that they had no liability in damages except where bad faith could be established. S3(1) of the HRA could not be used to construe section 14(3) of the Lloyd’s Act in such a way as to alter that accrued right, which depended upon the way in which section 14(3) would be construed but for section 3 of the HRA.

Judges:

Lord Justice Clarke Lord Justice Waller Lord Justice Chadwick

Citations:

[2003] EWCA Civ 1887, Times 23-Jan-2004

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

European Convention on Human Rights 6, Lloyd’s Act 1982 14(3), Human Rights Act 1998 3

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

See Also – Society of Lloyd’s v Laws and others ComC 28-Jan-2004
. .
Cited – A v Hoare; H v Suffolk County Council, Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs intervening; X and Y v London Borough of Wandsworth CA 12-Apr-2006
Each claimant sought damages for a criminal assault for which the defendant was said to be responsible. Each claim was to be out of the six year limitation period. In the first claim, the proposed defendant had since won a substantial sum from the . .
Cited – Green v Eadie and Others ChD 18-Nov-2011
The claimant as PR of her husband’s estate sought damages for misrepresentation and, against his former solicitiors for negligence in regards to the boundaries of a property he had bought from the first defendants using the second defendants as his . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance, Human Rights

Updated: 08 June 2022; Ref: scu.191988

Century Insurance v Northern Ireland Road Transport Board: HL 4 Mar 1942

Vicarious liability applied, where the lighting of a match to light a cigarette and throwing it on the floor while transferring petrol from a lorry to a tank was held to be in the scope of employment.

Citations:

[1942] AC 509, [1942] UKHL 2

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Lister and Others v Hesley Hall Ltd HL 3-May-2001
A school board employed staff to manage a residential school for vulnerable children. The staff committed sexual abuse of the children. The school denied vicarious liability for the acts of the teachers.
Held: ‘Vicarious liability is legal . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance, Vicarious Liability

Updated: 08 June 2022; Ref: scu.188808

Prifti and others v Musini Sociedad Anonima De Seguros Y Reaseguros: ComC 21 Nov 2003

‘It is argued that because the subject matter of the Reinsurance was a Spanish risk, the commercial context of the . . Reinsurance suggests in the absence of an express jurisdiction agreement, that the parties intended the Spanish Courts to have jurisdiction over any dispute. I do not agree. Indeed it seems to me, if anything, more natural to suppose that parties to Reinsurance underwritten in the London market would more probably expect litigation to be in the English Court.’

Judges:

Mr Justice Andrew Smith

Citations:

[2003] EWHC 2796 (Comm)

Links:

Bailii

Cited by:

Cited – Tryg Baltic International (UK) Ltd v Boston Compania De Seguros Sa and others ComC 28-May-2004
Four defendants from Argentina sought to have set aside an order for them to be served, saying the appropriate jursidiction, if there was a triable issue, would be Argentina.
Held: The agreements were to be construed according to English Law. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance, European

Updated: 08 June 2022; Ref: scu.188335

British Credit Trust Holdings v UK Insurance Limited: QBD 24 Oct 2003

The claimant was permitted to amend the particulars of claim in an insurance dispute in order to seek declaratory relief in respect of insurance claims arising after the proceedings had started.
Held: The lease had been surrendered by a deed.

Judges:

The Honourable Mr Justice Morison

Citations:

[2003] EWHC 2404 (Comm)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Hardy and others v Fowle and Another ChD 26-Oct-2007
Mortgagees claimed possession of the land. The occupiers claimed a right of occupation under a lease. The mortgagees argued that the lease had been surrendered.
Held: The lease had been surrendered by a deed. The defects in notice alleged did . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance, Litigation Practice

Updated: 08 June 2022; Ref: scu.187286

Horbury Building Systems Ltd v Hampden Insurance Nv: ComC 9 Sep 2003

The claimant had installed suspended ceilings in a new cinema complex. They took out insurance with the respondents, and now pursued a declaration as to the liability of the defendants under the policy. They had used the wrong washers, leading to a collapse of one ceiling, and a potential collapse of others. They sought to recover costs of re-instating the entire complex.
Held: The particular insurance contract had to be construed. In this case the liability extended to the physical damge which had actually occurred when the ceiling fell in, and any damages at law flowing from that collapse, but not the wider sums claimed.

Judges:

Deputy Judge Ian Glick QC

Citations:

[2003] EWHC 2110 (Comm)

Links:

Bailii

Citing:

Cited – A S Screenprint Ltd v British Reserve Insurance Co Ltd CA 1999
The Plaintiffs were insured under a policy that indemnified them, ‘against all sums which the Insured shall become legally liable to pay in respect of . . loss or damage . . during the period of insurance and caused by goods (including containers) . . .
Cited – Rodan International Limited v Commercial Union CA 1999
The claimants sold bulk soap powder. The packager packed it in defective cardboard which caused it to cake. The buyer sought damages.for breach of contract against Rodan (i) for the difference between the sound value of the powder and its reduced . .

Cited by:

Appeal from – Horbury Building Systems Limited v Hampden Insurance Nv CA 7-Apr-2004
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Construction, Insurance

Updated: 08 June 2022; Ref: scu.186263

European International Reinsurance Co Ltd v Curzon Insurance Ltd and Others: CA 22 Jul 2003

Re-insurers sought to repudiate liability under policies taken out to provide cover against asbestos claims. The primary insurers obtained oredrs joinging in the brokers who had arranged the re-insurance, and the brokers appealed those orders.
Held: It was arguable that the insurance brokers arranging the re-insurance owed a duty of care to the primary insurers to use reasonable skill and care in placing that re-insurance, and also that their employers were vicariously liable for any negligence of their employees in such placements. The case was stronger than in Punjab National and should proceed.

Judges:

Judge, Kay, Longmore LJJ

Citations:

[2003] EWCA Civ 1074, Times 21-Aug-2003

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Punjab National Bank v de Boinville CA 1992
The plaintiff was a person whom the broker knew was to become the assignee of an insurance policy, and the plaintiff had actively participated in giving instructions to the broker for the purchase of the relevant policy.
Held: A duty of care . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance, Professional Negligence

Updated: 08 June 2022; Ref: scu.186035

Geologistics Ltd, Regina (on the Application of) v Financial Services Compensation Scheme: Admn 4 Mar 2003

Citations:

[2003] EWHC 629 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Policyholder (Protection) Act 1975 6(4) 6(5)

Citing:

Appealed to – Regina (Geologistics) v Financial Services Compensation Scheme CA 18-Dec-2003
The claimant had made a claim against an insurance company which was insolvent. The claim had been paid by the Scheme, and he now sought payment by them of the costs of the claim also.
Held: The costs were payable. The construction of the . .

Cited by:

Appeal from – Regina (Geologistics) v Financial Services Compensation Scheme CA 18-Dec-2003
The claimant had made a claim against an insurance company which was insolvent. The claim had been paid by the Scheme, and he now sought payment by them of the costs of the claim also.
Held: The costs were payable. The construction of the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance, Costs, Insolvency

Updated: 08 June 2022; Ref: scu.185577

Feasey v Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada and Another: Steamship Mutual Underwriting Association (Bermuda) Ltd v Feasey: CA 26 Jun 2003

A policy providing a fixed level of benefit, calculated according to the degree of injury could not be avoided under the 1744 Act on the basis that the insured had no insurable interest. The insurance company said the company had no insurable interest.
Held: The phrase ‘insurable interest’ had proved difficult to define, and its meaning must be interpreted accoring to the context. The policy was not a simple life policy, but protected members’ interests in the event of losses. The insured had a pecuniary interest, and could recover.

Judges:

Waller LJ, Ward LJ, Dyson LJ

Citations:

Times 12-Jul-2003, [2003] EWCA Civ 885, Gazette 11-Sep-2003

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Life Assurance Act 1744 1, Marine Insurance Act 1906 5

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – Feasey v Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada and Another: Steamship Mutual Underwriting Association (Bermuda) Ltd v Feasey ComC 17-May-2002
The fact that there was more than one insurance policy in place for the same interest would not preclude a claim under one of them. A mutual underwriting group insured members against personal injury and so forth through ‘lineslip’ policies. The . .
Cited – Stock v Inglis CA 1884
Buyers of sugar to whom the risk of loss of the sugar but not the property in it had passed had an insurable interest.
Held: ‘Nobody can deny that this is a case of extreme difficulty and of great nicety. In my opinion it is the duty of a . .
Cited – Anderson v Morice 1875
A purchaser of a cargo was held to have no insurable interest in the cargo itself until the risk had passed to him on completion of loading. The only possible insurable interest was on the profits from sale of the cargo but not on the cargo itself . .

Cited by:

Appealed to – Feasey v Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada and Another: Steamship Mutual Underwriting Association (Bermuda) Ltd v Feasey ComC 17-May-2002
The fact that there was more than one insurance policy in place for the same interest would not preclude a claim under one of them. A mutual underwriting group insured members against personal injury and so forth through ‘lineslip’ policies. The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.184476

The University Court of the University of Edinburgh v Eagle Star Insurance Company Limited: SCS 4 Jun 2003

The pursuer sought a declarator that the insurers were to indemnify them under a contents insurance policy after the theft of computer equipment from a laboratory.
Held: The exclusion for thefts not by breaking into the building did not apply. The entry had clearly been forcible.

Judges:

Lord Drummond Young

Citations:

[2003] ScotCS 163

Links:

Bailii, ScotC

Scotland, Insurance

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.183905

Aitken v Financial Services Compensation Scheme Limited: SCS 30 May 2003

Judges:

Lord Drummond Young

Citations:

[2003] ScotCS 160, Times 28-Jun-2003

Links:

Bailii, ScotC

Statutes:

Third Parties (Rights against Insurers) Act 1930, Policyholders Protection Act 1975 6

Citing:

Cited – Pinner v Everett HL 1969
The House was asked whether or not a person was ‘driving or attempting to drive’ a motor vehicle when he had been stopped by the police in connection with the illumination of his rear number plate, and the driver got out of the car and started to . .
Cited – Scher and Others v Policyholders Protection Board and Others Ackman v Same HL 1-Sep-1993
The Court of Appeal had defined the expression ‘any liability . . under the terms of any policy’ in wide terms. An insurance policy is a UK one, if the obligations to be performed might have been part of a UK operation.
Lord Mustill criticised . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Scotland, Insurance

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.183913

Evialis S A v SIAT and others: ComC 16 Apr 2003

The defendant insurers had issued a certificate in respect of a cargo of cotton pellets which were the subject of a cif sale and had been damaged in the course of a voyage between Abidjan and Rouen. In June 2002 the insurers brought proceedings in Italy against the buyer who was a party to the contract of insurance contained in the certificate claiming that the buyer’s claim was time barred and that the damage was caused by inherent vice. In October 2002 the buyer brought proceedings in England claiming an indemnity in respect of the cargo damage and also that the contract contained an exclusive jurisdiction clause which required the matter to be decided in England or at least entitled the buyer to sue the insurers in England. The insurers applied to the English court for a determination that the English court did not have jurisdiction or alternatively for a stay pursuant to what was then Article 21 of the Brussels Convention.
Held: The English court did have jurisdiction (although not exclusive jurisdiction) but a stay was granted because the central or essential issue was whether the insurers were liable for cargo damage and that was the same both in Italy and in England.

Judges:

Andrew Smith J

Citations:

[2003] EWHC 863 (Comm), [2003] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 377, [2003] 2 LLR 377, [2003] ILPr 43, [2003] 2 CLC 802

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Brussels Convention 21

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Starlight Shipping Co v Allianz Marine and Aviation Versicherungs Ag and Others CA 20-Dec-2012
The Alexander T, owned by the appellant and insured by the respondents was a total loss. The insurers resisted payment, the appellant came to allege improperly, and the parties had settled the claim on full payment under a Tomlin Order. The owners . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.182608

Phillips (Widow and Executrix of the Estate of Arthur Phillips, Deceased) v Syndicate 992 Gunner and others: QBD 14 May 2003

Mr Phillips had been employed by a single employer between 1955 and 1957 and then between 1959 and 1970, during which periods he was exposed to asbestos dust. Out of the 13 years of this exposure, the insurers were on risk for 9 years between 1959 and 1968. He came to suffer and die from Mesothelioma. A judgment against the employers was entered by consent and the insurers maintained that they were only liable for the fraction of the total damages that the period of cover bore to the total period of employment and negligent exposure, relying on a rateable proportion clause and/or an implied term in the contract by reason of custom and practice or business efficacy.
Held: The arguments were rejected, applying Fairchild, which imposed liability on the employer, in any one period of exposure, for the total loss suffered. Following Fairchild, each material exposure within the total period of exposure was sufficient to give rise to liability on the part of the employer to the victim for 100% of the damages sustained.

Judges:

The Honourable Mr Justice Eady

Citations:

[2003] EWHC 1084 (QB), [2004] Lloyd’s Rep IR 426, [2004] LRIR 426

Links:

Bailii

Cited by:

Cited – International Energy Group Ltd v Zurich Insurance Plc UK ComC 24-Jan-2012
The defendant insurance company was found liable to contribute under insurance it had written, 22% of the compensation it had paid out in a mesothelioma claim brought in Guernsey by a Mr le Carre. The company was successor to a company which had . .
Cited – Zurich Insurance Plc UK Branch v International Energy Group Ltd SC 20-May-2015
A claim had been made for mesothelioma following exposure to asbestos, but the claim arose in Guernsey. Acknowledging the acute difficultis particular to the evidence in such cases, the House of Lords, in Fairchild. had introduced the Special Rule . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.182224

Nawaz and Another v Crowe Insurance Group: CA 24 Feb 2003

The claimant had claimed aganst the driver, but gave notice of the intention to make a claim on his insurance by telephone only. The insurers repudiated liability.
Held: Whilst solicitors would be strongly advised to give such notice in writing, an oral notice given to a proper officer of the insurer could be sufficient. In this case oral notice to a legal secretary was sufficient.

Judges:

Woolf LCJ, Kennedy, Scott Baker LJJ

Citations:

Times 11-Mar-2003, [2003] EWCA Civ 316

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Road Traffic Act 1988 152

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Wake v Page and Another CA 9-Feb-2001
Insurers were quite entitled to insist upon service of the statutory seven day notice of an intention to sue. In the absence of a notice very were not liable even though they were fully aware of the possibility of action. However regrettable it was . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance, Road Traffic, Litigation Practice

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.180112

Kastor Navigation Co Ltd and Another v AGF M A T and others: ComC 17 Mar 2003

The court was able to make costs orders which differentiated between different stages and elements of a case. This might well result, as here, in a situation of a succesful claimant being ordered to pay 80% of the defendant’s costs, because of costs incurred pursuing issues on which it lost.

Judges:

Tomlinson J

Citations:

[2003] EWHC 472 (Comm), Times 29-Mar-2003

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Civil Procedure Rules 36.21(3)(a)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Summit Property Ltd v Pitmans CA 19-Nov-2001
Whilst surprising, it was possible that a successful claimant could be ordered to pay the majority of a defendant’s costs. Under the Civil Procedure rules, it was proper to order costs on an issue by issue basis. . .
Cited – Stena Rederi Aktiebolag and Another v Irish Ferries Ltd CA 6-Feb-2003
A ferry plied its way between Dublin and Holyhead, coming into English territorial waters three or four times a day, and for up to three hours on each occasion. The claimants asserted that the construction of the hull infringed its patent.
Cited – Johnsey Estates and Limited v Secretary of State for Environment CA 11-Apr-2001
Chadwick LJ: ‘The principles applicable in the present case may, I think, be summarised as follows: (i) costs cannot be recovered except under an order of the court; (ii) the question whether to make any order as to costs – and, if so, what order – . .
See also – Kastor Navigation Co Ltd and Another v AGF M A T and others (‘Kastor Too’) ComC 4-Dec-2002
The claimant ship owner and its mortgagee sued the defendant insurer after the loss of the insured vessel, through fire. The insurers replied that the damage by fire was so extensive that the vessel was beyond repair when she sank, and was therefore . .

Cited by:

See Also – Kastor Navigation Co Ltd and Another v AGF M A T and others (‘Kastor Too’) ComC 4-Dec-2002
The claimant ship owner and its mortgagee sued the defendant insurer after the loss of the insured vessel, through fire. The insurers replied that the damage by fire was so extensive that the vessel was beyond repair when she sank, and was therefore . .
Appeal from – Kastor Navigation Co Ltd and Another v Axa Global Risks (Uk) Ltd and others CA 10-Mar-2004
The Kastor Too had been lost in a fire. After substantial litigation, the insurers now appealed an order finding a constructive total loss (it was beyond economic repair or recovery). They had said that it was already beyond repair immediately . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Costs, Insurance

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.179926

If P and C Insurance Ltd v Silversea Cruises Ltd and others: ComC 19 Mar 2003

Citations:

[2003] EWHC 473 (Comm)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appealed to – If P and C Insurance Limited (Publ.) v Silversea Cruises Limited, Silver Cloud Shipping Company Sa, Silver Wind Shipping Company Sa, Silversea New Build One Limited, Silversea New Build Two Limited&Quot;the Silver Cloud&Quot; CA 5-Jul-2004
The shipping company was insured against loss of business following Acts of war. It sought to claim after the attack on America in September 2001.
Held: The policy had a limitation which applied ‘in the annual aggregate and in all’ which . .

Cited by:

Appeal from – If P and C Insurance Limited (Publ.) v Silversea Cruises Limited, Silver Cloud Shipping Company Sa, Silver Wind Shipping Company Sa, Silversea New Build One Limited, Silversea New Build Two Limited&Quot;the Silver Cloud&Quot; CA 5-Jul-2004
The shipping company was insured against loss of business following Acts of war. It sought to claim after the attack on America in September 2001.
Held: The policy had a limitation which applied ‘in the annual aggregate and in all’ which . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.179925

Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada (A Company Established Pursuant To the Laws of Canada) v CX Reinsurance Company Limited (Formerly CNA Reinsurance Company Ltd): CA 6 Mar 2003

The claimant appealed a refusal to order that a dispute between insurer and re-insurer be referred to arbitration. One party sought to avoid liability under the policy, alleging misrepresentation. Discussions had been undertaking settling a revised form of agreement, but the forms had not been signed. The judge had held that the new document formal and was not intended to take effect until signed.
Held: In the insurance and reinsurance market the concern is usually upon the terms agreed and the necessity for signature at the outset when the insurance contract is made (usually by slip), rather than on any subsequent additional treaty terms which are regarded as a relative formality. Here the parties intended to be bound by the document signed unless and until replaced by any formal and signed addendum. Appeal dismissed.

Judges:

Lord Justice Potter Mr Justice Lawrence Collins Lord Justice Carnwath

Citations:

[2003] EWCA Civ 283

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – The Zephyr 1984
Whilst it is possible to make a contract which is partly oral and partly written, that is not the practice of the marine insurance market. The policy is the formal contractual document issued to the assured and unequivocally contains the terms of . .
Cited – New England Reinsurance Corporation v Messoghios Insurance Co 1992
Where, on the face of the documents the parties contemplate that, before being bound by a contract, they will execute a written contract the terms of which require careful negotiation, there is a distinction between a party who indicates his . .
Cited – First Energy (UK) Ltd v Hungarian International Bank Ltd CA 16-Apr-1993
A manager, though he lacked actual authority to authorise and offer a particular loan facility to the plaintiff, still did so by sending him a letter of offer which was accepted.
Held: Albeit the manager lacked actual authority to make the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance, Contract

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.179549

Kastor Navigation Co Ltd and Another v AGF M A T and others (“Kastor Too”): ComC 4 Dec 2002

The claimant ship owner and its mortgagee sued the defendant insurer after the loss of the insured vessel, through fire. The insurers replied that the damage by fire was so extensive that the vessel was beyond repair when she sank, and was therefore a constructive total loss (‘CTL’). They said the cause of the loss was not the fire, and the loss was uninsured.
Held: Abandonment of the subject-matter insured will take place by operation of law when the underwriters settle the claim. Section 61 is thus satisfied. The insured has been deprived of his right of choice envisaged by Section 61. He has no option but to treat the vessel as a total loss. Section 62(7) says in terms that notice of abandonment is unnecessary where when the insured receives information of the loss there would be no possibility of benefit to the insurer if notice were given to him. The Claimants were entitled to recover as for a CTL.

Judges:

Tomlinson J

Citations:

[2002] EWHC 2601 (Comm), [2003] 1 All ER (Comm) 277, [2003] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 296

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Marine Insurance Act 1906 6162(7) 77(2)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

See Also – Kastor Navigation Co Ltd and Another v AGF M A T and others ComC 17-Mar-2003
The court was able to make costs orders which differentiated between different stages and elements of a case. This might well result, as here, in a situation of a succesful claimant being ordered to pay 80% of the defendant’s costs, because of costs . .
Cited – Le Cheminant v Pearson 1812
The insured having carried out a partial repair folowing one incident, the vessel was then a total loss.
Held: The insured could recover both losses. . .
Cited – Slattery v Mance 1962
Where the insured property is damaged in a fire, unless the insurers allege that it had been started deliberately with the connivance of the insured, acceptance that a fire had occurred amounted to admission of the operation of an insured peril. . .
Cited – Robertson v Nomikos HL 1939
The ship suffered a constructive total loss under the terms of their freight insurance policy, which stipulated that the value when repaired was to be taken as the insured value. The cost of repairs was greater than the insured value, but less than . .
Cited – Bank of America National Trust and Savings Association v Chrismas (‘The Kyriaki’) QBD 26-Aug-1992
When a party seeks to add a new defendant by the amendment of a writ, that amended writ must be served within the applicable limitation period. For limitation purposes the assured’s cause of action arose at the date of the CTL casualty, that a . .
Cited – Chandris v Argo Insurance Ltd 1963
Terms of an insurance policy for the very nature of the loss may require a particular method of computation or process of quantification of loss before payment is due. Ordinarily, the right to the indemnity accrues as soon as the loss has been . .
Cited – Socony Mobil Oil Co Inc and others v West of England Ship Owners Mutual Insurance Association Ltd (Padri Island) (No 2); Firma CF-Trade SA v Similar (The ‘Fant’) HL 14-Jun-1990
The House was asked as to the effect of section 1(3) of the 1930 Act on policies including ‘pay or be paid’ clauses.
Held: The central question was whether the condition of prior payment was rendered of no effect by section 1(3) of the Act of . .
Cited – Andersen v Marten CA 1908
The vessel was first taken captive and then lost. The insurer said that actual loss was caused by the capture, which was excepted.
Held: The right to claim as a constructive total loss had not been affected. . .
Cited – PYSBE v Beer 1946
The court considered how an event after the insured event may affect the insurance claim: ‘once you have got a constructive total loss, the mere fact that it may ultimately become an actual loss because of some event that is not within the policy . .
Cited – Andersen v Marten HL 2-Jan-1908
The ship was a total loss by capture before she became a wreck by perils of the seas. . .
Cited – Livie v Janson 1810
The time to estimate the loss under an insurance claim where the party is put to no expense, as in the case of unrepaired damage, is at the expiration of the risk. In the case of a partial damage short of a total loss left unrepaired, the insured . .
Cited – Kaltenbach v Mackenzie CA 1878
The court described the origin of the necessity of giving a notice of abandonment in a shipping insurance claim and explained its function.
Brett LJ said: ‘This case raises the questions of abandonment and notice of abandonment on a policy of . .
Cited – British and Foreign Insurance Co Ltd v Wilson Shipping Co Ltd HL 1921
The vessel was insured against perils of the sea and suffered damage by a risk covered by the policy. Before the damage was repaired she was lost, still during the currency of the policy, but by a risk which is not covered by the policy.
Held: . .
Cited – Hahn v Corbett 1824
The cargo, Manchester cotton goods, was insured against marine risks from London to Maracaibo ‘warranted free from capture and seizure.’ The vessel was grounded off Maracaibo and became a constructive total loss. Ninety-five per cent of the cargo . .
Cited – Roux v Salvador CeC 1836
Hides were insured for their journey. Unfortunately they were in a process of putrefaction which would have been complete by the time of arrival at the port of destination, Bordeaux, such that on arrival they could not properly have been described . .
Cited – Rhesa Shipping Co SA v Edmonds (The Popi M) HL 16-May-1985
The Popi M sank in calm seas and fair weather as a result of a large and sudden entry of water into her engine room through her shell plating. The vessel’s owners claimed against her hull and machinery underwriters, contending that the loss was . .
Cited – The Marel CA 1994
. .
Cited – The Ikarian Reefer CA 1995
The court reversed the decision of the trial judge that the plaintiff insured shipowners had not deliberately scuttled their vessel or cast her away: ‘(1) The burden of showing that the trial Judge was wrong lies on the appellant . . (2) When . .
Cited – Northern Shipping Company v Deutsche Seereederei Gmbh and others (‘The Kapitan Sakharov’) CA 3-Mar-2000
A carrier: (a) should not be exposed to an infinite liability in time; and (b) is not, without more, liable for latent defects in a vessel before it acquired it. The relevant failure to exercise due diligence must relate to the performance of a . .

Cited by:

See also – Kastor Navigation Co Ltd and Another v AGF M A T and others ComC 17-Mar-2003
The court was able to make costs orders which differentiated between different stages and elements of a case. This might well result, as here, in a situation of a succesful claimant being ordered to pay 80% of the defendant’s costs, because of costs . .
Appeal from – Kastor Navigation Co Ltd and Another v Axa Global Risks (Uk) Ltd and others CA 10-Mar-2004
The Kastor Too had been lost in a fire. After substantial litigation, the insurers now appealed an order finding a constructive total loss (it was beyond economic repair or recovery). They had said that it was already beyond repair immediately . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance, Litigation Practice

Updated: 07 June 2022; Ref: scu.178942

Scottish and Newcastle plc v GD Construction (St Albans) Ltd: CA 22 Jan 2003

The employer and main contractor had contracted under the JCT conditions. The employer had been obliged to insure the property for fire in their joint names, but had not done so. After a fire caused by the negligence of a sub-contractor, he sued.
Held: The judge should have concluded that the effect of the contract was that the parties had agreed to exclude liability for negligence. The employer had an explicit obligation to insure in joint names and without subrogation, as part of an agreement allocating risks under the contract

Judges:

Ward, Longmore LJJ, Aikens J

Citations:

Times 28-Jan-2003, Gazette 20-Mar-2003, [2003] EWCA Civ 16

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Scottish Special Housing Association v Wimpey Construction UK Ltd HL 1986
The court acknowledged the practice in construction contracts making an express link between the liability imposed on the contractor, the specific aspect of such liability which iwas excluded and the existence of insurance (intended to benefit both . .
Cited – Co-Operative Retail Services Limited and others v Taylor Young Partnership and others HL 25-Apr-2002
Whilst a substantial new building was being constructed, it was damaged by fire caused by the negligence of several contractors. The case concerned apportionment of liability.
Held: The appeal failed. The parties could by agreement vary the . .
Cited – Mark Rowlands v Berni Inns Ltd CA 1985
The plaintiff owned the freehold and had let the basement to the defendant. The plaintiff insured the building. The defendant covenanted to pay to the plaintiff an insurance rent equal to the proportionate cost of insuring the part of the building . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance, Construction

Updated: 06 June 2022; Ref: scu.178770

Matadeen v Caribbean Insurance Co Ltd: PC 20 Jan 2003

(Trinidad and Tobago) The claimant sought to claim damages. The respondent’s insurers became insolvent, and he sought the damages in turn from the insurer’s own insurer. They responded that the claim against them was out of time.
Held: The limitation period in the claim against the insurer’s insurers was the same as it would be as between the original insured and his insurer. The fact that the contract of insurance was entered into was a statutory requirement. That the contract was under seal did not operate to extend the limitation period.

Judges:

Bingham of Cornhill, Hobhouse of Woodborough, Millett, Svott of Foscoe, Rodge of Earslferry LL

Citations:

Times 20-Jan-2003, [2002] UKPC 69, [2003] 1 WLR 670

Links:

Bailii, PC

Commonwealth, Insurance, Limitation

Updated: 06 June 2022; Ref: scu.178782

Nima SARL v The Deves Insurance Public Company Ltd; The Prestrioka: CA 30 Jul 2002

A marine insurance contract was entered into for goods to be transported between two ports. A side note provided that cover was to start from the time the goods left the warehouse. The Act provided that the insurance was void from the time such a cargo was diverted from the route agreed.
Held: The variation of the insurance contract endorsement related to a voyage rather than a time policy. Therefore, Act still applied, and the insurer was discharged at the moment the deviation occurred.

Judges:

Lords Justice Potter and Keene and Mr Justice Sumner

Citations:

Gazette 03-Oct-2002, Times 17-Oct-2002, [2002] EWCA Civ 1132, [2003] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 327

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Marine Insurance Act 1906 44

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Sawyer v Atari Interactive Inc ChD 1-Nov-2005
The claimant owned the copyright in several successful computer games. He had granted licenses for the use of the software, which licences were assigned to the defendants. Disputes arose as to the calculation of royalty payments, and the claimant . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance, Transport

Updated: 06 June 2022; Ref: scu.175228

Colonial Fire and General Insurance Company Limited v John Chung: PC 13 Dec 2000

PC (Trinidad and Tobago) The policy holder claimed under fire policies. The insurers said he had started the fires deliberately, and had failed to give sufficient particulars of his claim. The insurers now appealed the reveresal at appeal of the finding that the insured had started the fires himself.
Held: The evidence suggested the seat of the fire had only been accessible to someone with keys. The clauses requiring disclosure under the three policies should be read together so that a failure to responde adequately to questions under one policy vitiated the responses under the others. There was in reality one claim. The appeal was upheld.

Judges:

Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead, Lord Hope of Craighead, Lord Hutton, Sir Ivor Richardson

Citations:

(Appeal No 57 of 1999), [2000] UKPC 50

Links:

Bailii, PC, PC

Commonwealth, Insurance

Updated: 06 June 2022; Ref: scu.174685

HIH Casualty And General Insurance Limited and Others v The Chase Manhattan Bank and Others: CA 31 Jul 2001

Parties syndicating finance for a film obtained the security of an insurance which is designed to pay up to the sum insured, if the revenues generated by the film were insufficient to repay the loan finance plus associated expenses. The polices were supported by a ‘truth of statement’ policy, and the issue was the extent to which that applied as between the insurers and their own re-insurers.

Judges:

Lord Justice Aldous Lord Justice Rix And Mr Justice Lloyd

Citations:

[2001] EWCA Civ 1250, [2001] 2 Lloyds Law Reports 161

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – HIH Casualty and General Insurance Ltd and Others v Chase Manhattan Bank and Others QBD 19-Sep-2000
As a contract for speculation, a duty of utmost good faith is not implied in a contract insurance. The duty of disclosure by an insured can be limited by the contract as can the freedom of the insurance company to avoid liability. If the wording is . .
See also – HIH Casualty and General Insurance Limited v New Hampshire Insurance Company Independent Insurance Company Limited Axa Reinsurance S A CA 21-May-2001
A claim was made under a re-insurance policy which supported film finances. The re-insurers resisted the claim on the grounds of misrepresentation. Rix LJ: ‘In principle it would seem to me that it is always admissible to look at prior contracts as . .
Cited – Mark Rowlands v Berni Inns Ltd CA 1985
The plaintiff owned the freehold and had let the basement to the defendant. The plaintiff insured the building. The defendant covenanted to pay to the plaintiff an insurance rent equal to the proportionate cost of insuring the part of the building . .

Cited by:

Appeal from – HIH Casualty and General Insurance Limited and others v Chase Manhattan Bank and others HL 20-Feb-2003
The insurance company had paid claims on policies used to underwrite the production of TV films. The re-insurers resisted the claims against them by the insurers on the grounds of non-disclosure by the insured, or in the alternative damages for . .
See also – HIH Casualty and General Insurance Limited v New Hampshire Insurance Company Independent Insurance Company Limited Axa Reinsurance S A CA 21-May-2001
A claim was made under a re-insurance policy which supported film finances. The re-insurers resisted the claim on the grounds of misrepresentation. Rix LJ: ‘In principle it would seem to me that it is always admissible to look at prior contracts as . .
Cited – Regus (UK) Ltd v Epcot Solutions Ltd CA 15-Apr-2008
The appellant had contracted to provide office accomodation to the defendant. The air conditioning did not work and there were other defects. The appellant now challenged a finding of liability and that its contract terms which were said to totally . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance, Media

Updated: 06 June 2022; Ref: scu.171343

Uddin and Another v Norwich Union Fire Insurance Society Ltd: QBD 28 Feb 2002

The claimant made a claim for fire damage. The insurance company resisted, saying he had exaggerated the costs incurred of alternative accommodation, and of jewelry lost in the fire, and otherwise. The claimant had given several differing accounts of his losses.
Held: The evidence could not be believed, and the action against the insurance company failed. Recommendations were made for a police enquiry.

Judges:

His Honour Judge Richard Seymour Q.C.

Citations:

[2002] EWHC 276 (QB)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Insurance

Updated: 06 June 2022; Ref: scu.170220

In re Claims Direct Test Cases: CA 19 Mar 2002

The applicants sought to appeal on two matters where they had questions of practice in the conduct of personal injury claims. These were as to whether after-the-event cover purchased under section 29 amounted to insurance premiums, and the setting of how much was a reasonable sum to be recovered in such cases.
Held: The Court of Appeal could only answer appeals from judgements. Its jurisdiction is appellate, and it was not appropriate to seek to deal with matters which had not yet been decided at first instance.

Judges:

Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, Master of the Rolls, Lord Justice Potter and Lady Justice Arden

Citations:

Times 04-Apr-2002, Gazette 03-Apr-2002, [2002] EWCA Civ 333

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Access to Justice Act 1999 29

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Street v Mountford HL 6-Mar-1985
When a licence is really a tenancy
The document signed by the occupier stated that she understood that she had been given a licence, and that she understood that she had not been granted a tenancy protected under the Rent Acts. Exclusive occupation was in fact granted.
Held: . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Costs, Insurance, Personal Injury

Updated: 05 June 2022; Ref: scu.168119

Ace Insurance Sa-Nv v Surendranath Seechurn: CA 6 Feb 2002

The claimant sought payment under an insurance policy for his permanent disability. The judge had found that the defendant insurers had indicated a readiness to continue negotiations beyond the limitation period, and that they would apply for a stay if proceedings were issued whilst negotiations were under way. The insurers later claimed that his claim was out of time. He asserted that they were estopped from making that assertion. The insurance company appealed a finding against them.
Held: An estoppel would require a clear promise with specific regard to the limitation period. It was unnecessary to explore the several different forms of estoppel. Hughes was to apply. There was to be shown a clear representation. It must be precise and unambiguous. The claimants interpretation of what was happening did not affect the objective view of the words used. The offer made was conditional upon the claimant submitting to further examination in any event, which he had not done. No estoppel was established.

Judges:

Lord Justice Ward Lord Justice Thorpe And Lord Justice Keene

Citations:

[2002] EWCA Civ 67, [2002] 2 Lloyds LR 390

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Applied – Hughes v Metropolitan Railway Co HL 1877
A notice to repair had been served by the landlord on the tenant. The tenant wrote offering to buy the premises and proposed deferring the commencement of repairs until the landlord responded. The landlord replied by letter asking the price. It was . .
Cited – Republic of India and Another v India Steamship Co Ltd (Indian Endurance and Indian Grace) (No 2) HL 23-Oct-1997
When a action in rem against a ship was in fact parallel to an action in personam begun in India and awaiting a decision; an action was not to be allowed here.
Lord Steyn: ‘It is settled that an estoppel by convention may arise where parties to . .

Cited by:

Cited – Super Chem Products Limited v American Life and General Insurance Company Limited and Others PC 12-Jan-2004
PC (Trinidad and Tobago) A fire occurred at premises in which the stock was insured under two policies. Both insurers denied the claims alleging arson, and that it was out of time. The claimant said that the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Limitation, Personal Injury, Insurance, Estoppel

Updated: 05 June 2022; Ref: scu.167920

Morgan Grenfell and Co Ltd v Sace – Istituto Per i Servizi Assicurativi Del Commercio: CA 19 Dec 2001

The claimants sought to recover under guarantees, issued by the respondent banks, underwriting export credit guarantees. Though described as guarantees, the agreements were in law and substance, contracts of insurance governed by Italian law. The respondents refused to pay alleging failure to disclose the absence of investigation of the financial viability of the payer.
Held: The judge had had to find against a background of differing expert opinions on Italian Law and banking practice. These were for an English court, questions of fact, even though of a special nature. On an appeal against findings on such issues the Court of Appeal should be reluctant to reverse findings of fact. Italian insurance law differs from English law with respect to avoidance of liability of the insurer. In this case though the court differed from the judge as to its conclusions on Italian insurance and banking law, greater disclosure by the insured would not have affected the bankers minds, and the finding was upheld.

Judges:

Clarke, Mance, Dyson LJJ

Citations:

[2001] EWCA Civ 1932

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Parkasho v Singh PC 1968
. .
Cited – Macmillan, Inc (Incorporated Under the Laws of the State of Delaware, Usa) MCC Proceeds Inc v Bishopsgate Investment Trust Plc (No 4) CA 4-Nov-1998
When a court came to be obliged to decide issues of foreign law which were in substance issues of fact, and experts disagreed, it had to do so, and the Court of Appeal had to come to its own conclusions respecting the circumstances in first instance . .
Cited – Benmax v Austin Motor Co Ltd HL 1955
Except for cases which are expressly limited to questions of law, an appellant is entitled to appeal from the Court of Session to the House against any finding, whether it be a finding of law, a finding of fact or a finding involving both law and . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Banking, Insurance, Litigation Practice

Updated: 05 June 2022; Ref: scu.167862

Woolley v P and B (Run-Off) Ltd: CA 7 Feb 2002

The bylaw governed the form of agreements between Lloyds names, their agents and managing agents. The defendant contended that an agreement failing to comply with the requirement was void and unenforceable.
Held: Failure to comply would lead to disciplinary sanctions, and there was no need to take that further to make an infringing agreement void. This would have the perverse effect of denying to the policyholder the protection for which the rules were established.

Judges:

Lord Phillips Mr, Lord Justice Waller, And, Lord Justice Buxton

Citations:

Times 18-Feb-2002, [2002] EWCA Civ 65

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Lloyds of London Bylaw No 8 of 1988 Sch 2, Lloyds Act 1982

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Insurance

Updated: 05 June 2022; Ref: scu.167599

Jan De Nul (Uk) Limited v NV Royale Belge: CA 10 Oct 2001

The contractor undertook to dredge a stretch of river. Due to its failure to investigate properly, the result was the release of substantial volumes of silt into the estuary, to the damage of other river users and frontagers. The act amounted to a nuisance and a public nuisance. Could damages be recovered where the claimants had been unable to quantify their losses? However difficult that question, it was reasonable for the contractor to have taken steps to mitigate the potential loss.
Held: The deposit of silt was a form of physical interference with the third parties’ land. The claimant was liable in nuisance because HWT had a right to be left to use its nature reserve for breeding purposes without having to worry whether the silt, which the claimant by its negligence had put there, would interfere with their breeding programme; that worry could only be avoided either by carrying out a study, as was in fact done, and finding out that there was no need to do anything, or by dredging out the silt; the property was physically significantly affected in as much as large amounts of salt were deposited on it; and HWT suffered further damage by reason of the claimant’s activities in as much as HWT paid for the investigation.
Schiemann LJ said: ‘The underlying policy of the law is to protect a claimant against what Markesinis and Deakin in their book on Tort Law (4th ed, 1999) describe at p.422 as ‘unreasonable interference with the claimant’s interest.’ Phrases such as ‘physical damage to land’ are portmanteau phrases which embrace the concept of land being affected and this resulting in damage to the economic interests of another’.

Judges:

Schiemann LJ, Hale LJ, Rix LJ

Citations:

[2002] EWCA Civ 209, [2002] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 583, [2002] Lloyd’s Rep IR 589, [2002] 1 All ER (Comm) 767

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Tate and Lyle Industries Ltd v Greater London Council HL 24-Mar-1983
The plaintiff had constructed and used two jetties, and dredged a channel down to the Thames for their use. The Council constructed two terminals nearby, the result of which was to cause a build up of silt blocking the channel.
Held: The . .
Cited – Hunter and Others v Canary Wharf Ltd HL 25-Apr-1997
The claimant, in a representative action complained that the works involved in the erection of the Canary Wharf tower constituted a nuisance in that the works created substantial clouds of dust and the building blocked her TV signals, so as to limit . .
Cited – Cambridge Water Company v Eastern Counties Leather Plc HL 9-Dec-1993
The plaintiffs sought damages and an injunction after the defendant company allowed chlorinated chemicals into the plaintiff’s borehole which made unfit the water the plaintiff itself supplied.
Held: The appeal was allowed. Liability under . .
Cited – Overseas Tankship (UK) Ltd v Miller Steamship Co Pty (The Wagon Mound) (No 2) PC 25-May-1966
(New South Wales) When considering the need to take steps to avoid injury, the court looked to the nature of defendant’s activity. There was no social value or cost saving in this defendant’s activity. ‘In the present case there was no justification . .
Cited – Regina v Shamrock CACD 1994
. .
Cited – Attorney-General v PYA Quarries Ltd CA 1957
In a relator action, an injunction was sought to prevent the respondent from emitting quantities of dust from their quarry. The court had to decide what were the constituents of the offence of a public nuisance, and how this differed from a private . .
Cited – Benjamin v Storr 1874
The plaintiff’s coffee house was badly affected by the defendant’s wagons standing for long periods in the narrow street outside for the purposes of loading and unloading goods. The wagons blocked his light and the frequent stabling of the horses . .
Appeal from – Jan De Nul (UK) Ltd v NV Royale Belge ComC 31-Jul-2000
Contractors’ liability insurance – contract for capital dredging of main shipping channel in Southampton Water – deposit of silt outside limits of dredged channel – whether insured negligent – whether silt interfered with navigation – whether . .

Cited by:

Cited – D Pride and Partners (A Firm) and Others v Institute for Animal Health and Others QBD 31-Mar-2009
The claimants sought damages after the loss of business when the defendants’ premises were the source of an outbreak of foot and mouth disease. The organism had escaped from their premises via a broken drain.
Held: Much of the damage claimed . .
Cited – Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd v Williams and Another CA 3-Jul-2018
Japanese Knotweed escape is nuisance
The defendant appealed against an order as to its liability in private nuisance for the escape of Japanese Knotweed from its land onto the land of the claimant neighbours. No physical damage to properties had yet been shown, but the reduction in . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance, Nuisance, Negligence, Damages

Updated: 04 June 2022; Ref: scu.166543

Stuart Wilkie (AP) v Direct Line Insurance Plc: ScHC 19 Sep 2001

The pursuer sought payment under his insurance after his house burnt down. The defenders said the claim was time barred, and that there had been material non-disclosure. The issue was whether payments made after the fire had acknowledged the claim so as to extend the limitation period.
Held: Any qualification of the payments was not so clear as to make them properly without prejudice and the limitation challenge failed.

Citations:

[2001] ScotCS 220, [2001] ScotHC 103

Links:

Bailii, Bailii

Statutes:

Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973

Jurisdiction:

Scotland

Insurance

Updated: 04 June 2022; Ref: scu.166518

Sarwar v Alam: CA 19 Sep 2001

Litigation had followed an accident. The claimant, a passenger, sought and won damages for personal injuries. He had taken out legal expenses insurance, and at dispute was the recovery of the cost of that insurance. He had been unaware of having the insurance and had also paid out for after the event insurance. He sought to recover the costs of the legal expenses insurance. A challenge of a judge’s award in costs only proceedings should only rarely succeed. In such questions, the danger of conflicts of interest between the various insurance companies is real, and had been provided for in the regulations. Solicitors should inspect the client’s various policies to clarify what legal expenses insurance was available. The need to provide free choice of solicitors did not override common provisions for small cases referring such matters to insurance panel solicitors. In a case where a passenger sued his driver, it was not appropriate for his choice of solicitor to be determined by the defendant’s insurers, and after the event legal expenses insurance was a proper and reasonable expense and should be recoverable.

Judges:

Judge Halbert, District Judge Wallace

Citations:

Times 11-Oct-2001, [2001] EWCA Civ 1401, [2002] RTR 12, [2001] 4 All ER 541, [2002] 1 WLR 125, [2002] 1 Costs LR 37, [2002] Lloyd’ Rep IR 126, [2002] PIQR P15

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Insurance Companies (Legal Expenses Insurance) Regulations 1990, Conditional Fee Agreements Regulations 2000, Civil Procedure Rules 44.12A

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Callery v Gray (No 2) CA 31-Jul-2001
A plaintiff could recover the costs of insuring himself against the risk of having to pay the other sides costs, and finding his own costs irrecoverable (after the event or ATE insurance). The earlier case had decided that such premiums may be . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Litigation Practice, Damages, Costs, Legal Professions, Insurance

Updated: 04 June 2022; Ref: scu.166184

Jan De Nul (UK) Ltd v NV Royale Belge: ComC 31 Jul 2000

Contractors’ liability insurance – contract for capital dredging of main shipping channel in Southampton Water – deposit of silt outside limits of dredged channel – whether insured negligent – whether silt interfered with navigation – whether insured incurred liability to third parties in negligence, nuisance or public nuisance – whether insured liable to port authority in respect of expenses incurred in removing silt – whether removal of silt by insured formed part of the contract works – whether liability excluded under terms of policy

Judges:

Mr Justice Moore-Bick

Citations:

[2000] EWHC Commercial 71, [2000] EWHC 227 (Comm)

Links:

Bailii, Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Appeal from – Jan De Nul (Uk) Limited v NV Royale Belge CA 10-Oct-2001
The contractor undertook to dredge a stretch of river. Due to its failure to investigate properly, the result was the release of substantial volumes of silt into the estuary, to the damage of other river users and frontagers. The act amounted to a . .
Cited – Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd v Williams and Another CA 3-Jul-2018
Japanese Knotweed escape is nuisance
The defendant appealed against an order as to its liability in private nuisance for the escape of Japanese Knotweed from its land onto the land of the claimant neighbours. No physical damage to properties had yet been shown, but the reduction in . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance, Nuisance

Updated: 04 June 2022; Ref: scu.163049

Mendes Ferreira and Delgado Correia Ferreira v Companhia de Seguros Mundial Confianca SA: ECJ 14 Sep 2000

ECJ Compulsory insurance against civil liability in respect of motor vehicles – Directives 84/5/EEC and 90/232/EEC – Minimum amounts of cover – Type of civil liability – Injury caused to a member of the family of the insured person or driver.

Citations:

C-348/98, [2000] EUECJ C-348/98, [2000] ECR 1-6711

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

European

Cited by:

Cited – Knight v Axa Assurances QBD 24-Jul-2009
The claimant was injured in a car accident in France. The defendant insurer said that the quantification of damages was to be according to French law and the calculation of interest also. The claimant said that English law applied.
Held: The . .
Cited – Churchill Insurance Company Ltd v Wilkinson and Others CA 19-May-2010
The various insured defendants had been driven in the insured vehicles by a non-insured driver. Suffering injury at the negligence of the driver, they recovered variously damages. Their insurance companies sought recovery of the sums paid from their . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

European, Insurance, Road Traffic

Updated: 04 June 2022; Ref: scu.162492

Card Protection Plan Ltd v Commissioners of Customs and Excise: ECJ 25 Feb 1999

A company procuring insurance purchases for credit card protection was as exempt from VAT as was the insurer. A provision which restricted the ability to claim such exemption to those registered as insurers under national was invalid under European Law: ‘it is for the national court to determine . . whether the transactions . . are to be regarded for VAT purposes as comprising two independent supplies . . or whether one of those two supplies is the principal supply to which the other is ancillary, so that it receives the same tax treatment as the principal supply.’ What matters is ‘the essential features of the transaction’. ‘There is a single supply in particular in cases where one or more elements are to be regarded as constituting the principal service, whilst one or more elements are to be regarded, by contrast, as ancillary services which share the tax treatment of the principal service. A service must be regarded as ancillary to a principal service if it does not constitute for customers an aim in itself, but a means of better enjoying the principal service supplied . .’
As to what amounted to insurance, the court said: ‘the essentials of an insurance transaction are, as generally understood, that the insurer undertakes, in return for prior payment of a premium, to provide the insured, in the event of materialisation of the risk covered, with the service agreed when the contract was concluded.
It is not essential that the service the insurer has undertaken to provide in the event of loss consists in the payment of a sum of money, as that service may also take the form of the provision of assistance in cash or in kind of the type listed in the annex Directive 73/239 as amended by Directive 84/641. There is no reason for the interpretation of the term ‘insurance’ to differ according to whether it appears in the Directive on insurance or in the Sixth Directive.’

Citations:

Times 18-Mar-1999, C-349/96, [1999] STC 270, [1999] 2 AC 601, [1998] EUECJ C-349/96 – O

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Directive 73/239

Citing:

Referred back – Card Protection Plan Ltd v Commissioners of Customs and Excise HL 6-Feb-2001
The appellants sold a system protecting credit card holders against the consequences of loss or theft. They claimed that it was insurance and exempt from VAT. The commissioners said it was a service and vatable. The card provided a range of services . .
Cited – Commissioners of Customs and Excise v Madgett and Baldwin (trading as Howden Court Hotel) ECJ 22-Oct-1998
The court considered the criteria for determining whether the provision to guests by a hotelier of travel services (and in particular transport to and from the hotel and excursions) constituted supply which was ancillary to the supply of . .
Cited – Faaborg-Gelting Linien v Finanzamt Flensburg ECJ 2-May-1996
A non-takeaway restaurant is a supply of services, and a ferry supply was made from its place of business. The supply of prepared food and drink at a restaurant resulted from a whole series of services (including the preparation and service of the . .

Cited by:

Referred back – Card Protection Plan Ltd v Commissioners of Customs and Excise HL 6-Feb-2001
The appellants sold a system protecting credit card holders against the consequences of loss or theft. They claimed that it was insurance and exempt from VAT. The commissioners said it was a service and vatable. The card provided a range of services . .
Cited – Commissioners of Customs and Excise v Century Life Plc CA 19-Dec-2000
The Directive required member states to exempt from VAT, services involving the provision of insurance, and for intermediaries. Following the Regulator’s involvement, the principal company had to arrange for the checking of existing policies, and . .
Cited – College of Estate Management v Commissioners of Customs and Excise ChD 13-Nov-2003
The college appealed a finding that the supply of course manuals to its students was part of its exempt rather than zero-rated supply.
Held: ‘Once it is decided that there is a single supply from an economic view which should not be . .
Cited – Commissioners for Customs and Excise v Southern Primary Housing Limited CA 18-Nov-2003
The land owner had elected to pay VAT on the purchase of land. It sought to recover that VAT. The Commissioners appealed an order allowing that.
Held: Ther were three transactions, the purchase, the sale, and a development contract. The input . .
Cited – College of Estate Management v Commissioners of Customs and Excise CA 11-Aug-2004
When offering courses to distance learning students, the College offered materials for the courses. As part of the course this supply would be exempt, as books, the supply would be zero-rated, but the taxpayer would be able to reclaim its VAT . .
Cited – Beynon and Partners v Customs and Excise HL 25-Nov-2004
The House asked whether the personal administration of a drug such as a vaccine by an NHS doctor to a patient is a taxable supply for the purposes of value added tax. The provision of medical care in the exercise of the medical and paramedical . .
Cited – HM Revenue and Customs v Weight Watchers (UK) Ltd ChD 21-Jan-2008
The court was asked whether the weight-watchers program which included attendance at a course and a supply of supporting materials was one single standard-rated supply or separate supplies of zero-rated printed materials and standard-rated support . .
Cited – Re Digital Satellite Warranty Cover Ltd and Others ChD 31-Jan-2011
The Financial Services Authority sought public interest orders for the winding up of three companies selling, it said, extended warranty cover plans without authorisation. The companies said that authorisation was not required, since only services . .
Cited – Digital Satellite Warranty Cover Ltd v The Financial Services Authority CA 29-Nov-2011
Parties appealed against on order for the winding up of the company. The Authority (FSA) had said that the company which supplied warranties to owners of digital receiver boxes were providing regulated insurance services, but that the companies were . .
Cited – Baxendale Ltd and Another v Revenue and Customs FTTTx 4-Jul-2013
FTTTx PROCEDURE – striking out of proceedings – whether appellants’ case had a reasonable prospect of succeeding – abuse of process – whether Court of Appeal decision in David Baxendale was per incuriam or . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

European, Scotland, VAT, Insurance

Updated: 03 June 2022; Ref: scu.161975

Re Digital Satellite Warranty Cover Ltd and Others: ChD 31 Jan 2011

The Financial Services Authority sought public interest orders for the winding up of three companies selling, it said, extended warranty cover plans without authorisation. The companies said that authorisation was not required, since only services in kind, namely repairs, were provided.
Held: The orders were made. Warren J rejected that argument that the services were not contracts of insurance.

Judges:

Warren J

Citations:

[2011] EWHC 122 (Ch), [2011] Bus LR 981, [2011] 1 CLC 249

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, First Council Directive 73/239/EEC, Council Directive 84/641/EEC

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Phoenix General Insurance Co of Greece SA v Halvanon Insurance Co Ltd ChD 1985
The court was asked to consider preliminary issues concerning facultative obligatory (fac. oblig.) reinsurances of a variety of business. The issues included whether the reinsured was obliged to keep a retention and whether the writing of its . .
Cited – Card Protection Plan Ltd v Commissioners of Customs and Excise ECJ 25-Feb-1999
A company procuring insurance purchases for credit card protection was as exempt from VAT as was the insurer. A provision which restricted the ability to claim such exemption to those registered as insurers under national was invalid under European . .

Cited by:

At First Instance – Digital Satellite Warranty Cover Ltd and Another v Financial Services Authority SC 13-Feb-2013
The appellants challenged an order for the dissolution of their company under the 2000 Acts. They had provided warranties for assorted consumer electrical goods which amounted to insurance, but said that they were not required to be registered under . .
Appeal from – Digital Satellite Warranty Cover Ltd v The Financial Services Authority CA 29-Nov-2011
Parties appealed against on order for the winding up of the company. The Authority (FSA) had said that the company which supplied warranties to owners of digital receiver boxes were providing regulated insurance services, but that the companies were . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Financial Services, Insurance

Updated: 03 June 2022; Ref: scu.428354

Versloot Dredging Bv and Another v Hdi Gerling Industrie Versicherung Ag and Others: SC 20 Jul 2016

The ‘DC MERWESTONE’ suffered a water ingress of water flooding the engine room. This resulted from (i) the negligence of the crew in failing to close the sea inlet valve of the emergency fire pump and drain down the system, after they had used the hoses to clear ice chips from the hatch covers; (ii) damage to the emergency fire system pump casing and filter after the vessel had sailed from Klaipeda, as a result of the freezing and expansion of the seawater inside them; (iii) the negligence of contractors employed on an earlier occasion, who failed to seal the engine room bulkheads after passing cables through them, with the result that they were not watertight; and (iv) defects in the engine room pumping system, which was unable to cope with the rate of ingress. The main engine was damaged beyond repair. On investigation by the insurers, a reply was given which proved false. In fact, the lie was irrelevant to the merits of the claim. The court was now asked as to the established common law rule which said that an insured makes an element of his claim fraudulently, the entire claim is lost.
Held: Versloot’s appeal was allowed (Lord Mance dissenting) The common prohibits recovery from an insurer where the insured’s claim has been either fabricated or dishonestly exaggerated (‘the fraudulent claims rule’). That rule deters fraud. This had been more recent extended into a rule to as ‘fraudulent devices’, ‘collateral lies’ told by the insured to embellish their claim, but which are irrelevant because the claim
is justified whether the statement was true or false.
The fraudulent claims rule does not apply to collateral lies. The dishonest lie is typically immaterial and irrelevant to the honest claim: the insured gains nothing by telling it, and the insurer loses nothing if it meets a liability that it has always had. If a collateral lie is to preclude the claim, it must be material. To be material, a collateral lie must have been told in the making a claim must and must go at least to the recoverability of the claim on the true facts as found by the court.

Judges:

Lord Mance, Lord Clarke, Lord Sumption, Lord Hughes, Lord Toulson

Citations:

[2016] UKSC 45, [2016] WLR(D) 403, UKSC 2014/0252, [2016] 4 All ER 907, [2016] 3 WLR 543, [2016] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 198, [2016] Lloyd’s Rep IR 468, [2016] 2 All ER (Comm) 955, [2017] AC 1

Links:

Bailii, SC, SC Summary, WLRD, Bailii Summary

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Goulstone v The Royal Insurance Company 1858
In his claim under the insurance policy for the loss of furniture, the insured exaggerated the value by four times.
Held: Pollock CB glossed a fraudulent claim as one ‘wilfully false in any substantial particular’ . .
Cited – Johnson And Another v Chapman 10-Jul-1865
Deck-cargo {timber) lawfully laden pursuant to charterparty, having broken adrift in consequence of stormy weather, and impending the navigation and endangering the safety of the vessel, was necessarily thrown overboard.
Held: that the shipper . .
Cited – Chapman v Pole 1870
In the context of exaggerated value Cockburn, CJ spoke of one who ‘knowingly preferred a claim he knew to be false or unjust’ . .
Cited – Reid and Co Ltd v Employer’s Accident and Livestock Insurance Co Ltd 1899
The genuine part of a fraudulently inflated claim is recoverable. . .
Cited – Lek v Mathews 1927
Mr Lek was alleged to have dishonestly exaggerated a claim on the insurers of his stock. The policy required that if one part fell, all the claim fell: ‘As to the construction of the false claim clause, I think that it refers to anything falsely . .
Cited – Wisenthal v World Auxiliary Insurance Corpn Ltd 1930
A claim was made under an all risks policy on goods in transit and in storage pending sale. The insurers disputed the insured’s title and accused her of fraudulently exaggerating her claim. They also alleged that facts and documents relevant to . .
Cited – Black King Shipping Corpn and Wayang (Panama) SA v Massie (The ‘Litsion Pride’) 1985
The LITSION PRIDE was insured against war risks. The terms required of her owners, notice as soon as practicable of her entry into specified war zones and then to pay an additional premium. The owners traded her into a war zone without giving . .
Cited – Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Co Of Chicago And Xenofon Maritime SA v Alliance Assurance Co Ltd 1986
(‘The Captain Panagos DP’) The ship ran aground in the red sea. While aground it suffered a major fire. The owners submitted a claim on the basis that it was a total loss, or in the alternative, that they could recover a partial claim arising from . .
Cited – Pan Atlantic Insurance Co Ltd and Another v Pine Top Insurance Co Ltd HL 27-Jul-1994
The plaintiff had written long term (tail) insurance. The defendant came to re-insure it. On a dispute there were shown greater losses than had been disclosed, and that this had been known to the Plaintiff.
Held: ‘material circumstance’ which . .
Cited – Orakpo v Barclays Insurance Services and Another CA 1995
The insured sought to claim under his policy. The insurance company declined any payment, saying that part of the claim was fraudulent.
Hoffmann LJ said: ‘In my view, the claim also fails on the ground that it was substantially fraudulent. The . .
Cited – Royal Boskalis Westminster NV and Ors v Trevor Rex Mountain and Others ComC 18-Dec-1995
Marine insurance – assured – revocation of notice abandonment – before or after commencement of action – effect : Marine insurance – assured – declaration of intention not to make claim for total loss – recovery of property – effect : Marine . .
Cited – Royal Boskalis Westminster NV and others v Mountain and others CA 28-Feb-1997
Effect of illegality on a contract.
Held: Reversed . .
Cited – Galloway v Guardian Royal Exchange (UK) Limited CA 15-Oct-1997
The claimant’s policy had been declared void ab initio by the court. On the application form he had falsely stated that he had no convictions, but had only shortly before been convicted of obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception. Part of the . .
Cited – K/S Merc-Scandia XXXXII v Underwriters to Lloyd’S Policy 25T 1054 87 and Others QBD 20-Jul-2000
The Insurers had avoided a policy after a claim had been brought, and the insured had produced a fraudulent document. Having won their case, the applicants sought to enforce the award against the insurers. The insurers were held not to be excused . .
Cited – Manifest Shipping Co Ltd v Uni-Polaris Shipping Co Ltd and Others HL 23-Jan-2001
The claimant took out insurance on its fleet of ships (the Star Sea). It had been laid up in its off season. The ship’s safety certificates were renewed before it sailed. It was damaged by fire. The insurers asserted that the ship had been . .
Cited – Direct Line Insurance Plc v Khan and Another CA 11-Oct-2001
If part of an insurance claim is shown to be fraudulent, the entire claim is avoided. . .
Cited – Agapitos and Another v Agnew and others CA 6-Mar-2002
Insurers resisted a claim saying that fraudulent acts of the defendants to promote an otherwise valid claim, made the entire claim void. The insurance required certificates to be obtained before ‘hot’ works were undertaken as part of the ship’s . .
At CA – Versloot Dredging Bv and Another v Hdi Gerling Industrie Versicherung Ag and Others CA 16-Oct-2014
. .
Cited – K/S Merc-Scandia XXXXII v Underwriters to Lloyd’s Policy 25T 1054 and Others CA 31-Jul-2001
The owners of the ‘MERCANDIAN CONTINENT’ had obtained judgment in earlier High Court proceedings against a Trinidadian shipyard for damage caused by negligent repair work. Jurisdiction in the earlier proceedings had been founded on an agreed . .
Cited – AXA General Insurance Limited v Gottlieb CA 11-Feb-2005
The defendant made a claim under an insurance policy. The insurer made an interim payment, but then asserted that the claim was fraudulent, and sought recovery of the interim payment.
Held: At common law, fraud in an insurance claim, once . .
At ComC – Versloot Dredging Bv and Another v Hdi Gerling Industrie Versicherung Ag and Others ComC 14-Jun-2013
The claimant shipowners suffered damage to their vessel and claimed under their policy with the defendants. The defendants argued that part of the evidence supporting the explanation of the claim was fabricated, thus excusing any payment.
See Also – Willers v Joyce and Another (Re: Gubay (Deceased) No 1) SC 20-Jul-2016
Parties had been involved in an action for wrongful trading. This was not persisted with but the claimant sought damages saying that the action was only part of a campaign to do him harm. This appeal raised the question whether the tort of malicious . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance

Updated: 02 June 2022; Ref: scu.567276

International Energy Group Ltd v Zurich Insurance Plc UK: ComC 24 Jan 2012

The defendant insurance company was found liable to contribute under insurance it had written, 22% of the compensation it had paid out in a mesothelioma claim brought in Guernsey by a Mr le Carre. The company was successor to a company which had employed Mr le Carre for many years, exposing him to asbestos. Other insurance companies had contributed according to the extent of time covered. The court considered the applicability of the special rule as to evidence introduced in the Fairchild case as modfied by the 2006 Act. However that Act did not apply in Guernsey, and the court was left with the position at common law (agreed to be the same in the UK and in Guernsey) as found in Barker.
Held: The court accepted Zurich’s case regarding the compensation, but not the defence costs, paid in respect of Mr Carre. It was liable to pay andpound;71,729.84 in full discharge of its policy liabilities, being its relevant proportion of such compensation plus 100% of the defence costs.
‘the basis of Common Law liability prevails, in accordance with the principles enunciated in Barker, with the result that the liability of any defendant for mesothelioma is assessed by reference to the responsibility he bears for exposure, as compared with the responsibility for other exposures to asbestos and the risk of contracting mesothelioma. The Insured here accepts, ex hypothesi, that exposure over any period of one year is quite sufficient to give rise to a material increase in the risk of contracting mesothelioma and, given the agreed facts as to the uniformity and consistency of the intensity of exposure over the whole of the period of the Insured’s employment, the only measure of assessing responsibility for exposure is by reference to periods of time during which such exposure occurred. It cannot matter for this purpose, when assessing the Insured’s liability for any one year of exposure, conforming to the annual period of the insurance cover granted by the Insurer, that there is only one employer here involved. ‘

Judges:

Cooke J

Citations:

[2012] EWHC 69 (Comm)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Compensation Act 2006

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Phillips (Widow and Executrix of the Estate of Arthur Phillips, Deceased) v Syndicate 992 Gunner and others QBD 14-May-2003
Mr Phillips had been employed by a single employer between 1955 and 1957 and then between 1959 and 1970, during which periods he was exposed to asbestos dust. Out of the 13 years of this exposure, the insurers were on risk for 9 years between 1959 . .

Cited by:

Appeal from – International Energy Group Ltd v Zurich Insurance Plc UK Branch CA 6-Feb-2013
. .
At First Instance – Zurich Insurance Plc UK Branch v International Energy Group Ltd SC 20-May-2015
A claim had been made for mesothelioma following exposure to asbestos, but the claim arose in Guernsey. Acknowledging the acute difficultis particular to the evidence in such cases, the House of Lords, in Fairchild. had introduced the Special Rule . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury, Insurance

Updated: 02 June 2022; Ref: scu.450480

Goulstone v The Royal Insurance Company: 1858

In his claim under the insurance policy for the loss of furniture, the insured exaggerated the value by four times.
Held: Pollock CB glossed a fraudulent claim as one ‘wilfully false in any substantial particular’

Judges:

Pollock CB

Citations:

[1858] EngR 38, (1858) 1 F and F 276, (1858) 175 ER 725

Links:

Commonlii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Versloot Dredging Bv and Another v Hdi Gerling Industrie Versicherung Ag and Others SC 20-Jul-2016
The ‘DC MERWESTONE’ suffered a water ingress of water flooding the engine room. This resulted from (i) the negligence of the crew in failing to close the sea inlet valve of the emergency fire pump and drain down the system, after they had used the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance

Updated: 02 June 2022; Ref: scu.288509

Great North Eastern Railway Ltd v Avon Insurance Plc: CA 24 May 2001

It was argued that a particular exception clause should be disregarded altogether because it would deprive the insured of the benefit of one particular head of cover.
Held: The repugnancy doctrine only entitles the court to disregard an exception clause if the contract as a whole would otherwise be virtually reduced to a declaration of intent

Judges:

Lord Justice Chadwick, Lord Justice Longmore, Sir Philip Otton

Citations:

[2001] EWCA Civ 780, [2001] 1 Lloyds Rep 793

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Blackburn Rovers Football and Athletic Club Plc v Avon Insurance Plc, Eagle Star Insurance Company Ltd, AGF Insurance Ltd IC Insurance Ltd ComC 15-Nov-2004
The claimant football club insured its players through the defendants. A footballer injured himself in training and his career was finished. The insurers rejected the claim, and relied upon exception clauses, saying that the true cause was a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance

Updated: 01 June 2022; Ref: scu.160041

Goberdhan and others v Caribbean Insurance Company Limited: PC 21 May 1998

(Trinidad and Tobago)

Citations:

[1998] UKPC 25, 61 of 1997

Links:

Bailii

Cited by:

Cited – Presidential Insurance Company v Molly Hosein Stafford PC 22-Mar-1999
PC (Trinidad and Tobago) Mrs Stafford obtained judgment against a driver insured by the appellant. He was unable to satisfy the claim and she sought recovery from the insurers. They claimed that their liability . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance

Updated: 01 June 2022; Ref: scu.159305

Kuwait Airways Corporation and Another v Kuwait Insurance Company SAK and others: HL 11 Mar 1999

The airline’s airplanes were taken in the invasion of Kuwait. The company sought to claim on its insurance.
Held: This was a matter of construing the particular terms of the insurance contracts. As regards the claims under the insurance policies for spares, the Airline is entitled to recover from the Underwriters in respect of the loss of spares, subject to the maximum value set down.

Citations:

[1999] UKHL 12

Links:

House of Lords, Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from (varied) – Kuwait Airways Corporation and Another v Kuwait Insurance Company Sak CA 21-May-1997
. .
Cited – Cory v Burr HL 1883
”Seizure’ seems to be a larger term than ‘capture’ and goes beyond it, and may reasonably be interpreted to embrace every act of taking forcible possession either by a lawful authority or by overpowering force.’ . .
Cited – Anderson v Martin 1907
Takings at sea had been covered and the subjects of marine insurance–ships and cargoes–are properly treated as objects of war to be taken in prize or by way of reprisal: this was the meaning of the word ‘capture’ in marine insurance policies. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance

Updated: 31 May 2022; Ref: scu.158996

Society of Lloyd’s v Robinson and Another: HL 25 Mar 1999

Damages awarded to a Lloyd’s ‘name’ compensating for negligent underwriting must be paid into the trust fund set up for this purpose on behalf of member names, even though the claim fell outside the strict ambit of the original fund because of valid amendment.
Lord Steyn said: ‘Loyalty to the text of a commercial contract, instrument, or document read in its contextual setting is the paramount principle of interpretation. But in the process of interpreting the meaning of the language of a commercial document the court ought generally to favour a commercially sensible construction. The reason for this approach is that a commercial construction is likely to give effect to the intention of the parties. Words ought therefore to be interpreted in the way in which a reasonable commercial person would construe them. And the reasonable commercial person can safely be assumed to be unimpressed with technical interpretations and undue emphasis on niceties of language’.

Judges:

Lord Hutton, Lord Browne-Wilkinson, Lord Steyn, Lord Hope of Craighead, Lord Woolf MR

Citations:

Times 29-Mar-1999, Gazette 03-Jun-1999, [1999] 1 WLR 756, [1999] UKHL 22

Links:

House of Lords, House of Lords, Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Rainy Sky Sa and Others v Kookmin Bank SC 2-Nov-2011
Commercial Sense Used to Interpret Contract
The Court was asked as to the role of commercial good sense in the construction of a term in a contract which was open to alternative interpretations.
Held: The appeal succeeded. In such a case the court should adopt the more, rather than the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance

Updated: 31 May 2022; Ref: scu.159005

Wylie on Behalf of SMP Motor Policies at Lloyds v Wake: CA 21 Dec 2000

The claimant sought to recover damages following a road accident. The driver’s insurance was defective. The driver claimed under section 151, but proceedings were issued without formal notice of the issue of proceedings having been given to MIB. The claim proceeded for some time before objection was made.
Held: There was a clear distinction between notice of a claim, and a notice of proceedings. The notice need not be in any particular form, but must be an unconditional clear notice of the intention to commence formal proceedings. No sufficient notice had been given. The claimant alleged an estoppel against the defendant. The section is not a statutory defence, it is a condition precedent to liability, and accordingly no estoppel could arise.

Judges:

Lord Justice Kennedy, Lord Justice Laws, And Lord Justice Rix

Citations:

[2000] EWCA Civ 349

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Road Traffic Act 1988 152(1)(a)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Herbert v Railway Passenger Assurance Company 1938
. .
Cited – Weldrick v Essex and Suffolk Equitable Insurance Society Ltd QBD 1950
Nine months before the writ was issued to make a claim against the insured under a motor policy, the plaintiff’s solicitors had written to the insurers: ‘We understand your Society has repudiated liability, and we shall be grateful to have your . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Road Traffic, Insurance, Personal Injury

Updated: 31 May 2022; Ref: scu.147382

Gorham and others v British Telecommunications Limited Plc, the Trustees of the BT Pension Scheme Standard Life Assurance Company S/S: CA 27 Jul 2000

Where an insurance company gave financial advice to a person to whom they owed a duty of care, and they were aware that that person was intending to provide for his dependants, then the insurance company owed the dependants a duty of care also. The principle established in White v Jones should not be narrowly construed. The advice presumed such an interest in the person receiving the advice.

Citations:

Times 16-Aug-2000, Gazette 05-Oct-2000, [2000] EWCA Civ 234, [2000] 4 All ER 867, [2000] 1 WLR 2129

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – White and Another v Jones and Another HL 16-Feb-1995
Will Drafter liable in Negligence to Beneficiary
A solicitor drawing a will may be liable in negligence to a potential beneficiary, having unduly delayed in the drawing of the will. The Hedley Byrne principle was ‘founded upon an assumption of responsibility.’ Obligations may occasionally arise . .

Cited by:

Cited – Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis v Lennon CA 20-Feb-2004
The claimant police officer considered being transferred to Northern Ireland. He asked and was incorrectly told that his housing allowance would not be affected by taking time off work.
Held: The break between employments had affected his . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance, Professional Negligence

Updated: 31 May 2022; Ref: scu.147267

Groupama Navigation Et Transports; Continent Sa; Mutuelles Du Mans; Zurich International France SA and Gie Generali Transports (Bodies Corporate) v V Catatumbo Seguros (a Body Corporate): CA 20 Jul 2000

Judges:

Roch LJ, Tuckey LJ, Mance LJ

Citations:

[2000] EWCA Civ 220, [2000] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 350, [2000] CLC 1534, [2001] Lloyd’s Rep IR 141, [2000] 2 All ER (Comm) 193

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Marine Insurance Act 1906 33

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Forsikringsaktieselskapt Vesta v Butcher HL 1988
A contract of insurance and a facultative reinsurance, under which part of the original risk was reinsured, contained warranties in identical terms.
Held: The warranty in the reinsurance policy, which was governed by English law, should be . .

Cited by:

Cited – Tryg Baltic International (UK) Ltd v Boston Compania De Seguros Sa and others ComC 28-May-2004
Four defendants from Argentina sought to have set aside an order for them to be served, saying the appropriate jursidiction, if there was a triable issue, would be Argentina.
Held: The agreements were to be construed according to English Law. . .
Cited – Lexington Insurance Co v AGF Insurance Ltd HL 30-Jul-2009
The respondent insurers had been held liable in Washington, and had been granted indemnity against the appellants by the Court of Appeal. The insurance contract had been under the law of Pennsylvania, but that of the re-insurance under the law of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance

Updated: 31 May 2022; Ref: scu.147253

Killick and Nugent and others (Sued on her Own Behalf and on Behalf of Those Lloyd’s Syndicates Listed In the Schedule to the Writ of Summons): CA 11 Apr 2000

Claim under Personal Injury Accident policy after death of the policyholder company’s employee and others in an air crash

Judges:

Wvans, Thorpe, Laws LJJ

Citations:

[2000] EWCA Civ 122

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Personal Injury, Insurance

Updated: 31 May 2022; Ref: scu.147155

Alfred Mcalpine Plc v BAI (Run-Off) Limited: CA 11 Feb 2000

Obligations in a Notice of Claims clause should not be treated as conditions precedent to liability but as innominate terms apt only to create a defence to a claim under the policy if the consequences of breach are so serious as to give the insurers a right to reject the claim.

Judges:

Waller LJ

Citations:

[2000] EWCA Civ 40, [2000] Lloyds Rep 437, [2000] EWCA Civ 40

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Bankers Insurance Company Limited v South, Gardner QBD 7-Mar-2003
The two defendants had been involved in a jet-ski accident on holiday in Europe. The claimant sought a declaration that it was not liable to indemnify its insured under the holiday insurance under which they travelled. The policy excluded liability . .
Cited – Pilkington United Kingdom Limited v CGU Insurance Plc QBD 28-Jan-2004
The claimants had installed glass tiles in a roof. They fractured, and facing a claim for damages, they sought payment from their insurers. The claimants argued that the risk of fracture meant that the damage occurred upon installation, the insurers . .
Cited – Friends Provident Life and Pensions Ltd v Sirius International Insurance CA 24-May-2005
The appellants provided excess layer professional indemnity insurance cover on a claims made basis. Insurers complained that although the insured had become aware of possible sources of claims, he had not given notice to the insurer, and had thereby . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance

Updated: 31 May 2022; Ref: scu.147073

Aldrich; Day; Civardi; Biggs and others v Norwich Union Life Insurance Company Limited (Formerly Known As Norwich Union Life Insurance Society): CA 30 Jul 1999

The appellants each had policiies partially guaranteeing their liabilities as Lloyds names. The guarantees were secured by charges on property. They appealed strike outs of their defences of action to repossess the properties.

Citations:

[1999] EWCA Civ 2042

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Insurance

Updated: 31 May 2022; Ref: scu.146957

Heathfield v Owen: CA 16 Jul 1999

Citations:

[1999] EWCA Civ 1863

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Mark Rowlands v Berni Inns Ltd CA 1985
The plaintiff owned the freehold and had let the basement to the defendant. The plaintiff insured the building. The defendant covenanted to pay to the plaintiff an insurance rent equal to the proportionate cost of insuring the part of the building . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance, Negligence

Updated: 31 May 2022; Ref: scu.146778

In the Matter of Friends Provident Life Office and Friends Provident Linked Life Assurance Limited: CA 16 Jul 1999

Where a re-insurer transferred his entire re-insurance business as one whole, that transfer remained a transfer of long term business requiring the sanction of the court to the scheme. The policies were discharged by operation of law, not by the transfer itself, because of the distinction between the transfer of liabilities, and a surrender of the rights inhering in the insured.

Citations:

Times 26-Jul-1999, [1999] EWCA Civ 1872

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Insurance Companies Act 1982

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – In Re Friends’ Provident Life Office ChD 4-Jan-1999
When a policy of re-insurance is returned to the re-insurer, the policy is thereby determined, and can no longer be long term insurance business and the policies having been finished were not transferred and the court was unable to approve a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance

Updated: 31 May 2022; Ref: scu.146787

MDIS Limited (Formerly Mcdonnell Information Systems Limited) v Swinbank London and Edinburgh Insurance Company Limited Aegon Insurance Company (Uk) Limited: CA 19 Jul 1999

Clarke LJ discussed the process of construction: ‘in any process of construction it is appropriate to take the language of the particular clause as the starting point. It is, however, not in dispute that the words used must be considered in the context of the particular clause as a whole and that the clause must in turn be considered in the context of the policy as a whole, which must in its turn be set in its surrounding circumstances or factual matrix. Moreover, as Lord Hoffmann pointed out in the now well-known case of Investors Compensation Ltd v Hopkin and Sons (a firm), Alford v West Bromwich Building Society, Armitage v West Bromwich Building Society [1998] 1 All ER 98 at 114, [1998] 1 WLR 896 at 912-913 interpretation is the ascertainment of the meaning which the document would convey to a reasonable person having all the background knowledge which would reasonably have been available to the parties in the situation in which they were at the time of the contract, and the meaning of the document is what the parties using the relevant words against the relevant background would reasonably have been understood to mean.’

Judges:

Clarke LJ

Citations:

[1999] EWCA Civ 1884, [1999] EWCA Civ 1883, [1999] 2 All ER (Comm.) 722

Links:

Bailii, Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Insurance, Contract

Updated: 31 May 2022; Ref: scu.146799

Grecoair Inc v Tilling and others: ComC 9 Dec 2004

Citations:

[2004] EWHC 2851 (Comm), [2005] Lloyd’s Rep IR 151

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

See Also – Grecoair Inc v Tilling and others QBD 14-Jan-2009
The court has power to exercise disclosure orders in order to facilitate in an economical fashion a fair hearing of the application, although disclosure is often made without formal order. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance

Updated: 30 May 2022; Ref: scu.220183

Municipal Mutual Insurance Limited v Sea Insurance Company Limited and Others: CA 26 Mar 1998

The unifying event in an aggregation clause in an insurance policy was expressed in very general terms: ‘all occurrences of a series consequent on or attributable to one source or original cause.’
Held: As long as one could find any act, event or state of affairs which could properly be described as a cause of more than one loss, they formed part of a series for the purposes of the aggregation clause. A series of losses caused by theft and vandalism from the Port of Sunderland over a period of time were attributable to one original cause, namely the inadequacy of the port’s system for protecting the goods of which it was bailee.
Hobhouse LJ said: ‘The judge came to the surprising conclusion that each reinsurance contract covered liability in respect of physical loss or damage whether or not it occurred during the period covered by the reinsurance contract and he went on expressly to contemplate that the same liability for the same physical loss or damage might be covered under a number of separate contracts of reinsurance covering different periods. This is a startling result and I am aware of no justification for it. When the relevant cover is placed on a time basis, the stated period of time is fundamental and must be given effect to. It is for that period of risk that the premium payable is assessed. This is so whether the cover is defined as in the present case by reference to when the physical loss or damage occurred, or by reference to when a liability was incurred or a claim made. Contracts of insurance (including reinsurance) are or can be sophisticated instruments containing a wide variety of provisions, but the definition of the period of cover is basic and clear’.

Judges:

Hobhouse, Brooke LJJ, Sir John Vinelott

Citations:

[1998] EWCA Civ 546, [1998] Lloyd’s Rep IR 421, [1998] CLC 957

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Lloyds TSB General Insurance Holdings and others v Lloyds Bank Group Insurance Company Ltd HL 31-Jul-2003
The applicant had paid out many claims for mis-selling pensions. They sought to claim under their insurance. The claims met the requirements of the principle insurance, but the insurance companies sought to impose a limit by aggregation.
Held: . .
Cited – Lexington Insurance Co v AGF Insurance Ltd HL 30-Jul-2009
The respondent insurers had been held liable in Washington, and had been granted indemnity against the appellants by the Court of Appeal. The insurance contract had been under the law of Pennsylvania, but that of the re-insurance under the law of . .
Cited – Zurich Insurance Plc UK Branch v International Energy Group Ltd SC 20-May-2015
A claim had been made for mesothelioma following exposure to asbestos, but the claim arose in Guernsey. Acknowledging the acute difficultis particular to the evidence in such cases, the House of Lords, in Fairchild. had introduced the Special Rule . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance

Updated: 30 May 2022; Ref: scu.144024

The Fanti and The Padre Island: CA 1989

Citations:

[1989] 1 Lloyds Rep 239

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – Firma CF-Trade SA v Newcastle Protection and Indemnity Association (the ‘Fanti’) QBD 1987
The court considered the effect of section 1(3) on a ‘pay to be paid’ clause in a re-insurance contract.
Held: If, as a matter of construction of the membership rules, the condition survived the making of a winding-up order – which he thought . .

Cited by:

Cited – First National Tricity Finance Ltd v OT Computers Ltd; In re OT Computers Ltd (in administration) CA 25-May-2004
The company had gone into liquidation. They had sold consumer policies as extended warranties on behalf of the claimant. The company had insured its own joint liability under the contracts, and the claimant sought information from the company’s . .
Appeal from – Socony Mobil Oil Co Inc and others v West of England Ship Owners Mutual Insurance Association Ltd (Padri Island) (No 2); Firma CF-Trade SA v Similar (The ‘Fant’) HL 14-Jun-1990
The House was asked as to the effect of section 1(3) of the 1930 Act on policies including ‘pay or be paid’ clauses.
Held: The central question was whether the condition of prior payment was rendered of no effect by section 1(3) of the Act of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance

Updated: 29 May 2022; Ref: scu.198399

R E Brown and others v GIO Insurance Limited: CA 6 Feb 1998

A reinsurance contact provided for an excess and limit of liability to be calculated on the basis of ‘each and every loss and/or series of losses arising out of one event.’ It also provided that ‘The Reassured shall be the sole judge as to what constitutes each and every loss and/or one event’.
Held: Where an excess loss re-insurance contract gives one party discretion acting as a ‘sole judge’ to decide mixed issues of fact and law, courts will not normally intervene.
Chadwick LJ stated: ‘The real question, as it seems to me, is not whether the parties intended that the plaintiff should be left to decide these matters; but whether that is a bargain which the law permits them to make. I start from the position that the courts should be slow to strike down a sensible commercial bargain, made between parties experienced in their field, unless there is some clearly identifiable element of public policy which requires that to be done.
I am satisfied that there is no rule of public policy which prevents parties from agreeing to submit to the final and conclusive decision of a third party some issue which involves questions of construction or of mixed fact and law . . It is necessary, therefore, to go on to consider whether different considerations must apply where the effect of their bargain is that the parties have sought to entrust the decision to one or other of themselves rather than to an independent expert. I can see no reason, in principle, why a different approach is required.
It is, of course, necessary to keep in mind that there are some questions of law which it would be repugnant to the very existence of a legally enforceable contract to leave to the exclusive determination of one party. An obvious example would be a decision as to the existence or otherwise of contractual liability in given circumstances. It must also be kept in mind that in many, if not most, situations it will be inherently unlikely that one party will intend to leave a question of law to be decided by the other party. Further an agreement wholly to oust the jurisdiction of the courts is against public policy and is void. But I can see no objection in principle to a bargain in which one party is left to decide (i) what the facts are in relation to some matter which is to arise in the future and which is plainly intended to have some contractual consequence under a provision of the agreement which they have made and (ii) whether or not that combination of facts does fall within that provision. The jurisdiction of the court is not ousted in those circumstances; provided that the agreement which the parties have reached on that matter allows the court to interfere if the decision-making party has acted unreasonably, perversely or in bad faith. It seems to me that the court will be ready (in the absence of express words to the contrary) to construe the agreement, if necessary by implying an appropriate term, so as to impose on the decision-making party an obligation to act reasonably and in good faith. An agreement which did not permit of such a construction would, I think, be void; but that is not an issue in the present case.’

Judges:

Chadwick LJ

Citations:

Times 18-Feb-1998, Gazette 05-Mar-1998, [1998] EWCA Civ 177, [1998] Lloyd’s Rep IR 201, [1998] CLC 650

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Skidmore v Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust HL 22-May-2003
The disciplinary code for doctors employed by the NHS provides different procedures cases involving allegations of ‘professional conduct’ or ‘personal conduct.’ The first would involve a more judicial process, and the second a more informal . .
Cited – Charles Stanley and Co Ltd v Adams QBD 19-Jul-2013
The claimant stock broking firm sought to recover its uninsured losses after having paid out for what was said to have been negligent advice by the respondent, a self-employed broker working for them.
Held: The power to recover such losses . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance, Contract

Updated: 29 May 2022; Ref: scu.143655

Parsons, Parsons v Provincial Insurance Plc: CA 20 Feb 1998

The insurers refused to pay on a fire claim, saying that it was started by the insured, that the proposal was incorrect, and that in extending the value insured, the insured had misrepresented the situation. The court considered whether a jury trial was required.

Citations:

[1998] EWCA Civ 311

Statutes:

Supreme Court Act 1981 69(1)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Everett v Islington Guardians 1923
The court was asked whether a jury trial was appropriate under the 1920 Act.
Held: Avery J said: ‘It cannot be sufficient to bring a case within those words of the proviso that a plaintiff should merely allege in his particulars that the . .
Cited – Stafford Winfield Cook and Partners v Winfield 1981
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance, Litigation Practice

Updated: 29 May 2022; Ref: scu.143789

Society of Lloyd’s v Leighs; Lyon and Wilkinson and Canadian Names Intervenors: CA 31 Jul 1997

Citations:

[1997] CLC 1398, [1997] 6 Re LR 289, Times 11-Aug-1997, Independent 06-Oct-1997, [1997] EWCA Civ 2283

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – Society of Lloyd’s v D Leighs and Others; Society of Lloyd’s v D Wilkinson and Others ComC 20-Feb-1997
ComC Lloyd’s Litigation – issues relating to recovery from names.
Held: A name at Lloyd’s grants a power of attorney to the underwriting agent to execute that power which is irrevocable. . .
Appeal from – Society of Lloyd’s v D Leighs and Others; Society of Lloyd’s v D Wilkinson and Others (No. 2) ComC 23-Apr-1997
ComC Lloyd’s Litigation – Misrepresentation, fraudulent – Rescission, restitutio in integrum – Rescission, effect on third parties’ rights – Anti-set-off clauses, counterclaim for fraud – Pay now, sue later . .

Cited by:

Cited – BOC Group Plc v Centeon Llc and Centeon Bio-Services Inc CA 29-Apr-1999
The court was asked whether a clause in a share sale agreement setting out the payment obligation worked to preclude the purchaser from exercising a right of set-off when the time comes to pay a later instalment of the price.
Held: The appeal . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance, Contract

Updated: 29 May 2022; Ref: scu.142680

In re Coleman’s Depositories Ltd: CA 1970

An insurance policy covered the liability of an employer to compensate his workmen for injuries in the course of their employment. The court was asked whether it incorporated a condition requiring the employer to give immediate notice to the insurer of any accident causing injury to a workman and to forward to the insurer every notice of claim received by the employer within three days after receipt. There was a further condition that made the time element in these conditions a term of the essence of the contract. An accident befell a workman. Notice of the accident was not given to the insurer for over two months.
Held: These conditions had not been incorporated into the contract, and the claim under the policy succeeded.
Vaughan Williams LJ: ‘The only question in the case is the obligation of this condition as to immediate notice. As to the condition as to forwarding notice of claim received by the employer within three days of the receipt of such notice, I agree with Bray J that there was no obligation to forward such notice after the association had repudiated.’

Judges:

Vaughan Williams LJ

Citations:

[1907] 2 KB 798

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Diab v Regent Insurance Company Ltd PC 19-Jun-2006
(Belize) The appellant’s premises were destroyed by fire. The insurer respondents refused payment, saying that the claimant had delayed notification, had stored ammunition, and had started the fire himself.
Held: Lord Scott referered to his . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance

Updated: 28 May 2022; Ref: scu.244711

Ronson International Ltd v Patrick: CA 30 Mar 2006

The insurance company appealed a finding of liability under a household poliicy where the defendant had set a fire in a factory, but had not intended the eventual disastrous consequences.
Held: To avoid liability under an exclusion clause the question for the insurers was not whether the act which caused the fire was intended, but whether the consequences had been intended.

Judges:

Tuckey LJ, Thomas LJ, Hallett LJ

Citations:

Times 08-May-2006

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – In re Young and Harston’s Contract CA 1885
The court set out what was meant by the term ‘wilful default’ when used in a contract for the sale of land. Bowen LJ said: ‘Wilful is a word of familiar use in every branch of law, and although in some branches of the law it may have a special . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance

Updated: 28 May 2022; Ref: scu.242602

Insurance Co of Africa v SCOR (UK) Reinsurance Co Ltd: CA 1985

An underlying insurance policy covered a warehouse in Liberia against fire, including $500,000 for buildings and $3 million for contents. The warehouse became a total loss. The owners of the warehouse brought proceedings in the Liberian courts. The insurers unsuccessfully defended, and as well as the sum insured, they had to pay general damages of $600,000 and $58,000 costs. The insurers could recover a proportion of the damages and costs from the re-insurers under an implied term of the re-insurance contract.
Held: There was no basis to imply a term that the re-insurers should bear a proportion of the costs of defending the claim on the ground of business efficacy. The contract worked effectively without any such implication, and if such a term was implied, the re-insurers’ potential liability would be increased beyond, and possibly far beyond, the sum insured under the contract of re-insurance. The effect of the words in the policy ‘to pay as may be paid thereon’ was to bind reinsurers to a compromise by the insurers of the question of the amount of a claim so that, provided that the insurers could establish a loss of the kind insured and reinsured, and that the reinsured had acted honestly and had taken all proper and businesslike steps to have the amount of the loss fairly and carefully ascertained, reinsurers were obliged to indemnify the insurers in respect of that amount.

Judges:

Robert Goff LJ, Fox LJ

Citations:

[1985] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 312

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Baker v Black Sea and Baltic General Insurance Co Ltd HL 20-May-1998
The question agreed to be before the court was ‘Where an insurer incurs costs in investigating settling or defending claims by his insured, can the insurer recover a proportion of these costs under a quota share or other form of proportional . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance, Contract

Updated: 28 May 2022; Ref: scu.179311

Countrywide Assured Group plc and others v Marshall and others (AIG Europe (UK) Ltd and others intervening): QBD 15 Oct 2002

The claimants sought payments under professional indemnity policies, allowing for excesses on individual claims. The insurer sought to limit its overall liability to any policy holder saying that the acts of mis-selling were to be viewed as part of a series, being ‘occurrences of a series [of claims] attributable to one source or original cause.’
Held: The words were clear. The excesses were not to be aggregated, but the claims for the purposes of the limit were to be aggregated. The plain meaning of the words should not be distorted.

Judges:

Morrison J

Citations:

Gazette 14-Nov-2002

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Insurance, Professional Negligence

Updated: 28 May 2022; Ref: scu.178144