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 administrators to assist it identifying who might else be liable.
Held: The claimant could rely upon the 1930 Act which was not restricted solely to liabilities in tort. There had been differing interpratations of the Act, but not so as to demonstrate any ambiguity in the Act so as to allow admission of parliamentary evidence under Pepper v Hart. Lord Justice Longmore: ‘the question of the date of transfer to the third party of the rights of the insured against the insurer should now . . be regarded as conclusively determined . . in favour of the view that the transfer takes place on the event of insolvency.’
Judges:
Lord Justice Kay, Lord Justice Longmore, Lord Justice Parker
Citations:
[2004] EWCA Civ 653, Times 31-May-2004, [2004] Ch 317
Links:
Statutes:
Third Parties (Rights Against Insurers) Act 1930, Consumer Credit Act 1974
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Hood’s Trustees v Southern Union General Insurance Company of Australasia Ltd 1928
H, being insured by the defendant company against liability to third parties, negligently injured C in a road accident. C subsequently brought an action against H for damages, but before he could obtain judgment, H was made bankrupt and the official . .
Cited – Re Harrington Motor Co Ltd, Ex parte Chaplin 1928
A person injured in a road accident had obtained judgment for damages against the company, but had been unable to enforce the judgment before the company went into liquidation. The company’s motor insurers paid the amount of the judgment to the . .
Cited – In re Compania Merabello San Nicholas SA ChD 1973
A petition to wind up a one-ship Panamanian company was brought by a claimant cargo-owner who had ‘an unliquidated claim against the company for breach of [a] contract of carriage in respect of the shortages and for damages based on [the vessel] . .
Cited – CVG Siderurgicia del Orinoco SA v London Steamship Owners’ Mutual Insurance Association Limited ‘The Vainqueur Jose’ 1979
The plaintiff sought to claim under the rules of the P and I club of which it was a member. After defining the risks in respect of which members were to be indemnified, the rules made the following proviso in Rule 8(k): ‘A member shall at the . .
Cited – The Fanti and The Padre Island CA 1989
. .
Not good Law – Tarbuck v Avon Insurance Plc ChD 2002
Legal expenses insurance was purchased by a Miss Nicholson who ran a Natural Health Clinic in Clerkenwell. The insurance was called an ‘Office or Surgery Policy’ and section 7, headed ‘Legal Expenses’, provided that the insurers would pay the . .
Limited – T and N Limited, Associated Companies of T and N Ltd (In Administration) v Royal and Sun Alliance Plc, and others ChD 9-May-2003
T and N had exposure to asbestosis claims; these claims were insured by Lloyd’s but on terms that if payments were to be made, T and N should make certain reimbursements to Lloyd’s. T and N then insured with a captive company known as Curzon their . .
Cited – Woolwich Building Society v Taylor and Another ChD 17-May-1994
A person requesting third party information under the Act, must first establish a claim sufficient to justify the right claimed. The third party claimant’s right against the insured arose at the time when the claimant suffered a loss but that the . .
Cited – Post Office v Norwich Union Fire Insurance Society Ltd CA 1967
A contract of insurance provided an indemnity for ‘all sums which the insured shall become legally liable to pay as compensation in respect of loss of property’. The claim was by the Post Office against a contractor, Potters, for damaging one of . .
Cited – Bradley v Eagle Star Insurance Co Ltd HL 1989
Mrs Bradley was employed by Dart Mill several times from 1933 and 1970 and acquired byssinosis from inhaling cotton dust. The company was wound up in 1975 and dissolved in 1976. In 1984 she applied to the court for pre-action disclosure under . .
Not good law – Nigel Upchurch Associates v The Aldridge Estates Investment Co Ltd 1993
. .
Cited – Cox v Bankside Members Agency Ltd and Others QBD 27-Jan-1995
Some agents had policies against which there were likely to be various calls, either because several claims were being pursued against the same agents by different Lloyd’s Names, or because the policies were group policies covering several agents . .
Dicta adopted – Cox v Bankside Members Agency Ltd and Others CA 16-May-1995
Successful Lloyds names were entitled to enforce their claims in the normal time sequence. The transfer of the rights of the insured against the insurer under section 1(1) the 1930 Act takes place on the event of insolvency, even if the insured’s . .
Cited – Centre Reinsurance International Co and Another v Curzon Insurance Ltd ChD 12-Feb-2004
It was a necessary part of the system of statutory transfers of insurance obligations under the Act, that the rights should be transferred before exhaustion of any policy excess, and notwithstanding the insolvency. The rights (inchoate at this . .
Appeal From – OT Computers v First National Tricity Finance ChD 2003
. .
Cited by:
Cited – Freakley and Curzon Insurance Ltd v Centre Reinsurance International Company and Another; similar CA 11-Feb-2005
Claims were made for personal injury caused by asbestos. The re-insurers sought declaratory relief against the head insurers, and the administrators of the insolvent company. The administrators sought declarations in turn. Curzon insured the company . .
Cited – Law Society of England and Wales and others v Shah and others ChD 30-Nov-2007
Solicitor firms had been made bankrupt leaving a shortfall after thefts from client accounts of over 12 million pounds. The thief had diappeared, and the other partners were now discharged form bankruptcy. The Law Society accepted that it could not . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Insurance, Insolvency
Updated: 11 June 2022; Ref: scu.197805