Conflicting Insurance Policies – Disclosure Error
An assured operated a waste recycling facility. It held two relevant polices of insurance, with different insurers. The insurers both claimed that they were entitled to avoid the relevant policies for material non-disclosure. The assured, and the lessor of the premises, which was a co-insured under the first of the policies, assigned their causes of action to the claimant, which sued the defendant insurance broker in negligence. The broker was held liable for failing to give the assured adequate advice about its disclosure obligations and failing to disclose to the insurer material facts known to it. However, the assured could only recover damages in respect of one of the policies. In respect of other policy, the defendant’s negligence was not causative of the assured’s loss, because it had not affected the lessor’s claim under the policy. Furthermore, on a balance of probabilities, that policy would in any event not have responded by reason of a breach of condition, for which the broker was not responsible.
Butcher J
[2018] EWHC 2558 (Comm)
Bailii, Judiciary
England and Wales
Insurance
Updated: 10 November 2021; Ref: scu.625935
