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		Insurance - From: 2003 To: 2003 This page lists 65 cases, and was prepared on 08 August 2015. Â General Star International Indemnity Ltd -v- Stirling Cooke Brown Reinsurance Brokers Ltd and Another [2003] EWHC 3 (Comm) 17 Jan 2003 ComC Media, Insurance [ Bailii ] Â Matadeen -v- Caribbean Insurance Co Ltd Times, 20 January 2003; [2002] UKPC 69 20 Jan 2003 PC Bingham of Cornhill, Hobhouse of Woodborough, Millett, Svott of Foscoe, Rodge of Earslferry LL Commonwealth, Insurance, Limitation (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. [ Bailii ] - [ PC ] Â Moore Large & Company Ltd -v- Hermes Credit and Guarantee Plc [2003] EWHC 26 (Comm); [2003] Lloyd's LR IR 315 20 Jan 2003 ComC Insurance An insurance company is not entitled to go outside the scope of the questions it asks. The proposer is entitled to assume that the company asks for the information it wants. 1 Citers [ Bailii ] Â Scottish and Newcastle plc -v- GD Construction (St Albans) Ltd Times, 28 January 2003; Gazette, 20 March 2003; [2003] EWCA Civ 16 22 Jan 2003 CA Ward, Longmore LJJ, Aikens J Insurance, Construction 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 1 Cites [ Bailii ] Â Sunport Shipping Limited, Prometheus Maritime Corporation, Celestial Maritime Corporation, Surzur Overseas Limited -v- Tryg-Baltica International (Uk) Ltd (Formerly Know As Colonia Baltica Insurance Ltd) and others Times, 03 February 2003; [2003] EWCA Civ 12; Gazette, 20 March 2003; [2003] 1 All ER (Comm) 586; [2003] 1 LLR 138; [2003] Lloyds Rep IR 349 24 Jan 2003 CA Mr Justice Scott Baker, Lord Justice Clarke, Lord Justice Peter Gibson Insurance, Transport, Contract The insurance policy incorporated standard provisions which excluded cover for 'loss damage arising from detainment by reason of infringement of any customs or trading regulations.' The ship was detained and the insurers refused payment. Held: The term 'customs regulations', in a marine insurance law, had to be construed widely enough to include rules allowing the detention of a ship for contravention of controlled drugs and other prohibited goods laws. Clarke LJ described the Hooley Hill Rubber principle as: "essentially a principle of construction. Thus the court is trying to ascertain the intention of the parties in using the expression deployed in the contract. Where a contract has been professionally drawn, as in the case of the Institute Clauses, the draftsman is certain to have in mind decisions of the courts on earlier editions of the clause. Such decisions are part of the context or background circumstances against which the particular contract falls to be construed. If the draftsman chooses to adopt the same words as previously construed by the courts, it seems to me to be likely that, other things being equal, he intends that the words should continue to have the same meaning." 1 Cites 1 Citers [ Bailii ] Â Groupama Insurance Company Ltd -v- Overseas Partners Re Ltd and Another [2003] EWHC 34 (Comm) 24 Jan 2003 ComC Insurance 1 Cites 1 Citers [ Bailii ] Â Drake Insurance Plc -v- Provident Insurance Plc [2003] EWHC 109 (Comm) 3 Feb 2003 ComC Insurance A driver caused an accident, and the claimant insurance company paid out. It now sought a contribution from the defendant, who had also insured the driver, but had denied liability. The driver was a named additional driver under the second policy, but the principal insured had failed to disclose an old speeding conviction. Held: There had been non-disclosure, but if an accident had been correctly disclosed as no-fault rather than fault, the premium would not have changed. The right of an insurer to avoid a contract for non-disclosure is akin to the right of rescission. Once the decision is communicated, the avoidance has immediate effect. If this was done in good faith, a later revision of the basis of the proposal does not revive the contract, and nor did the continuing to collect pemiums and amendment of the insurance contract. 1 Cites [ Bailii ] Â Eurodale Manufacturing Ltd -v- Ecclesiastical Insurance Office Plc [2003] EWCA Civ 203; Gazette, 03 April 2003 10 Feb 2003 CA Insurance Goods were insured whilst in transit. They were stored in a secure warehouse over a weekend pending delivery but were stolen. The insurance covered them 'during the ordinary course of transit'. Held: The goods were covered. 1 Cites [ Bailii ] Â International Management Group (Uk) Ltd -v- Simmonds [2003] EWHC 177 (Comm) 14 Feb 2003 ComC Insurance [ Bailii ] Â Petromec Inc -v- Petroleo Brasileiro S A Petrobras and others [2003] EWHC 179 (Comm) 18 Feb 2003 ComC Contract, Insurance 1 Cites 1 Citers [ Bailii ] Â Â HIH Casualty and General Insurance Limited and others -v- Chase Manhattan Bank and others; HL 20-Feb-2003 - [2003] UKHL 6; [2003] 1 All ER Comm 349; [2003] 2 Lloyd's Law Reports 61; [2004] ICR 1708; [2003] Lloyds Rep IR 230; [2003] 1 CLC 358 Â Nawaz and Another -v- Crowe Insurance Group Times, 11 March 2003 24 Feb 2003 CA Woolf LCJ, Kennedy, Scott Baker LJJ Insurance, Road Traffic, Litigation Practice 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. Road Traffic Act 1988 152 1 Cites Â Brotherton and others -v- Aseguradora Colseguros S A and Another [2003] EWHC 335 (Comm) 26 Feb 2003 ComC Insurance 1 Citers [ Bailii ] Â GE Reinsurance Corporation and others -v- New Hampshire Insurance Company and Another [2003] EWHC 112 (Comm) 27 Feb 2003 ComC Insurance, Media [ Bailii ] Â BP Plc -v- Ge Frankona Reinsurance Ltd and others [2003] EWHC 344 (Comm) 27 Feb 2003 ComC Insurance [ Bailii ] Â Geologistics Ltd, Regina (on the Application of) -v- Financial Services Compensation Scheme [2003] EWHC 629 (Admin) 4 Mar 2003 Admn Insurance, Costs, Insolvency Policyholder (Protection) Act 1975 6(4) 6(5) 1 Cites 1 Citers [ Bailii ] Â American Motorists Insurance Co (Amico) v Cellstar Corporation and another Gazette, 09 May 2003 4 Mar 2003 CA Lords Justice Kennedy, Mantell and Mance Insurance, Jurisdiction The claimant, incorporated in Texas, took global transportation insurance with the first defendant, a Texan company, to cover its businesses in Europe. Proceedings began in England to avoid the global transportation insurance policy issued in Texas. The judge set aside service on one defendant and stayed the proceedings against the other, saying the contract was not governed by English law. The claimant contended on appeal that the contract covered risks in several countries and was severable so as to be governed by the law of each country where a company was situated. Held: Appeal dismissed The contract had significant composite elements and could not be regarded as severable into a series of contracts applying to individual companies in the group in order to invoke the law of the country where each was incorporated as the governing law of the contract; that where a contract failed to express its governing law, the 1982 and 1990 Acts provided alternative schemes, but each required an English court to act on the implied intention of the contracting parties as to the applicable law; both parties intended the insurance contract to be under Texan law. Insurance Companies Act 1982 - Contract (Applicable Law) Act 1990 1 Cites Â 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) [2003] EWCA Civ 283 6 Mar 2003 CA Lord Justice Potter Mr Justice Lawrence Collins Lord Justice Carnwath Insurance, Contract 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. 1 Cites [ Bailii ] Â Bankers Insurance Company Limited -v- Patrick South, Mark Ian Gardner [2003] EWHC 380 (QB) 7 Mar 2003 QBD The Honourable Mr Justice Buckley Insurance, Personal Injury, Consumer 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 for damages arising from ownership, or possession of water craft. The defendants alleged that the exclusion was unfair under the Regulations. Held: The policy was neither unfair nor worded unclearly, and was not affected by the Regulation. A jet ski is a water craft. It was asserted that the clause requiring immediate notification was unfair. This failed. Declaration granted. Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1994 3 1 Cites 1 Citers [ Bailii ] Â North Atlantic Insurance Co Ltd -v- Nationwide General Insurance Co Ltd and others [2003] EWHC 449 (Comm) 13 Mar 2003 ComC Insurance [ Bailii ] Â Kastor Navigation Co Ltd and Another -v- AGF M A T and others [2003] EWHC 472 (Comm); Times, 29 March 2003 17 Mar 2003 ComC Tomlinson J Costs, Insurance 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. Civil Procedure Rules 36.21(3)(a) 1 Cites 1 Citers [ Bailii ] Â Pioneer Technology (Uk) Ltd -v- Jowitt [2003] EWCA Civ 411 18 Mar 2003 CA Employment, Insurance, Personal Injury [ Bailii ] Â If P&C Insurance Ltd -v- Silversea Cruises Ltd and others [2003] EWHC 473 (Comm) 19 Mar 2003 ComC Insurance 1 Cites 1 Citers [ Bailii ] Â Sirius International Insurance Company -v- FAI General Insurance Ltd and others [2003] EWCA Civ 470; [2003] 1 WLR 2214 4 Apr 2003 CA May LJ Carnwath LJ Insurance An insurance and banking dispute with regard to the benefit of a letter of credit had been settled between the companies, but the parties then disagreed as to the meaning of the settlement. Held: Counsel for Sirius "accepted that the second condition of the 3 September 1999 agreement was not and is not fulfilled. He accepted that the first condition was not fulfilled before the Tomlin order. He accepted that the literal words of paragraph 1 do not express an agreement by FAI that Sirius should pay Agnew's claim. Creative construction or implication is required to interpret it as doing so. He accepted, I think, that an award in contested arbitration proceedings would not have fulfilled the first condition. But the Tomlin order, he said, embodied an agreement not an award, and the agreement that Sirius should be entitled to prove in FAI's liquidation or administration for US$22.5m necessarily carried with it an agreement by FAI that Sirius should pay Agnew's claim. I do not think so." FAI were entitled to the proceeds of the letter of credit in the escrow account. The effect was Sirius became an unsecured creditor in the insolvency of FAI 1 Cites 1 Citers [ Bailii ] Â Â Evialis S A -v- SIAT and others; ComC 16-Apr-2003 - [2003] EWHC 863 (Comm); [2003] 2 Lloyd's Rep 377; [2003] 2 LLR 377; [2003] ILPr 43; [2003] 2 CLC 802 Â The Society of Lloyd's -v- Eric Nigel Laws & Others 2003/EWHC 873 (COMM) 17 Apr 2003 QBD The Honourable Mr Justice Cooke Torts - Other, Insurance, Limitation Â Society of Lloyd's -v- Laws and others [2003] EWHC 873 (Comm) 24 Apr 2003 ComC Cooke J Insurance, Litigation Practice 1 Citers [ Bailii ] Â Stuart Jeremy Peter Wilkie (Ap) -v- Direct Line Insurance Plc [2003] ScotCS 125 30 Apr 2003 SCS Lord Abernethy and Lord Marnoch and Lord Hamilton Insurance, Scotland 1 Cites [ Bailii ] - [ ScotC ] Â Assicurazioni Generali Spa -v- CGU International Insurance Plc and others [2003] EWHC 1073 (Comm) 2 May 2003 ComC Insurance [ Bailii ] Â Howells -v- IGI Insurance Company Ltd [2003] EWCA Civ 3 13 May 2003 CA Insurance [ Bailii ] Â Sylvia Phillips (Widow & Executrix of the Estate of Arthur Phillips, Deceased) -v- Syndicate 992 Gunner and others [2003] EWHC 1084 (QB) 14 May 2003 QBD The Honourable Mr Justice Eady Insurance [ Bailii ] Â Murray Arnold Campbell Scott (for and Behalf of All Underwriting Members of Syndicates 401 and 857 at Lloyd's) -v- The Copenhagen Reinsurance Company (Uk) Ltd [2003] EWCA Civ 688; [2003] Lloyd's Rep IR 696 16 May 2003 CA Lord Justice Rix Lord Justice Schiemann Lord Justice Keene Insurance Where an insurance policy required damage to have been caused by an insured risk, the causative link had to be a significant rather than a weak one. 1 Citers [ Bailii ] Â Toomey -v- Banco Vitalicio De Espana Sa De Seguros Y Reaseguros [2003] EWHC 1102 (Comm) 20 May 2003 ComC Insurance [ Bailii ] Â Brotherton & Another -v- Aseguradora Colseguros S A & Another [2003] EWCA Civ 705 22 May 2003 CA Lord Justice Buxton, Lord Justice Mance, Lord Justice Ward Insurance Allegations against the insured were extant at the date of the proposal. The insurers sought to avoid the claim. 1 Citers [ Bailii ] Â Aitken -v- Financial Services Compensation Scheme Limited [2003] ScotCS 160; Times, 28 June 2003 30 May 2003 SCS Lord Drummond Young Scotland, Insurance Third Parties (Rights against Insurers) Act 1930 - Policyholders Protection Act 1975 6 1 Cites [ Bailii ] - [ ScotC ] Â Edinburgh University -v- Eagle Star Insurance Company Ltd Times, 06 October 2003 4 Jun 2003 OHCS Lord Drummond Young Insurance, Contract The insurance policy excluded claims for 'damage caused by or consisting of or consequential losses arising directly from theft or attempted theft no involving breaking into or out of the buildings of the premises by forcible and violent means'. The thief did not use violence to enter the premises but did break down an internal door. Held: The insurance company could not rely upon the exclusion clause. The clause made no direct reference to external limits, and the context did not suggest that the insurance company's interpretation was commercially intended. It was intended to avoid liability for thefts by those with a right to enter the building. Â The University Court of the University of Edinburgh -v- Eagle Star Insurance Company Limited [2003] ScotCS 163 4 Jun 2003 SCS Lord Drummond Young Scotland, Insurance 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. [ Bailii ] - [ ScotC ] Â KR and others -v- Bryn Alyn Community (Holdings) Ltd and Another [2003] EWCA Civ 783; [2003] QB 1441 10 Jun 2003 CA Auld LJ Limitation, Insurance The court considered an extension of the time for claiming damages for personal injuries after the claimants said they had been sexually abused as children in the care of the defendants. Held: The test to be applied under section 14(2) was "partly subjective"and "section 14(2) was designed principally to provide for cases of late diagnosis of physical diseases, such asbestosis or byssinosis, the deadly development of which may be unknown until their symptoms eventually appear." The section "does not fit so readily the circumstances of abused children who, because of their immaturity and vulnerable position might never consider and seek advice about suing their abusers". In such a case, the trial judge, when considering the applicability of section 14(2), must take into account the claimant's "individual history and circumstances, the nature severity and duration of the abuse, the period of time when it occurred and its physical and/or mental effects evident to the claimant". The judge would then have "to relate them all to the question whether the claimant, given those and any other relevant circumstances, would have considered the injury… sufficiently serious to institute proceedings against a solvent compliant defendant". Third Parties (Rights against Insurers) Act 1930 1 - Limitation Act 1980 1 Cites 1 Citers [ Bailii ] Â Barrett (HM Inspector of Taxes) -v- Royal London Mutual Insurance Society Ltd [2003] EWCA Civ 789; Times, 18 June 2003 12 Jun 2003 CA Lord Justice Mummery, Lady Justice Arden And Mr Justice Nelson Insurance, Corporation Tax The question arising was whether paragraph 55(2) of Schedule 8 to the Finance Act 1995, a reinsurance treaty entered into on 25 November 1994 by the taxpayer reinsurer with a non-resident cedant is, by virtue of the fact that policies of life assurance ceded by that treaty were issued before 1 November 1994, within the following opening words of such paragraph "Where the policy or contract for any life assurance business was made before 1 November 1994 …" Held: Contracts for re-insurance were to be treated as coming within the definition of contracts for insurance, and so were caught by the transitional provisions. This construction leads to a matching between the business referred to in the opening clause of paragraph 55(2) and that referred to in the operative part of that provision. Appeal allowed. Finance Act 1995 Sch8 Par55 1 Cites 1 Citers [ Bailii ] Â Amec Civil Engineering Limited -v- Norwich Union Fire Insurance Society Limited [2003] EWHC 1341 (TCC) 12 Jun 2003 TCC His Honour Judge Richard Seymour Q.C Insurance [ Bailii ] Â Feasey-v- Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada and Another: Steamship Mutual Underwriting Association (Bermuda) Ltd -v- Feasey Times, 12 July 2003; [2003] EWCA Civ 885; Gazette, 11 September 2003 26 Jun 2003 CA Waller LJ, Ward LJ, Dyson LJ Insurance 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. Life Assurance Act 1744 1 - Marine Insurance Act 1906 5 1 Cites 1 Citers [ Bailii ] Â Feasey -v- Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada and others [2003] EWCA Civ 1106 26 Jun 2003 CA Insurance, Costs [ Bailii ] Â Kennecott Utah Copper Corp and others -v- Minet Ltd and others [2003] EWCA Civ 905 2 Jul 2003 CA Insurance, Professional Negligence [ Bailii ] Â Peter Malcolm Brotherton & 4 others -v- Aseguradora Colseguros Sa & 1 Other [2003] EWHC 1741 (Comm) 16 Jul 2003 QBD The Honourable Mr Justice Morison Insurance [ Bailii ] Â Midland Mainline Ltd and others -v- Commercial Union Assurance Company Ltd and others [2003] EWHC 1771 (Comm) 17 Jul 2003 ComC Insurance, Transport [ Bailii ] Â European International Reinsurance Co Ltd -v- Curzon Insurance Ltd and Others [2003] EWCA Civ 1074; Times, 21 August 2003 22 Jul 2003 CA Judge, Kay, Longmore LJJ Insurance, Professional Negligence 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. 1 Cites [ Bailii ] Â Frans Maas (Uk) Ltd -v- Sun Alliance and London Insurance Plc [2003] EWHC 1803 (Comm) 22 Jul 2003 ComC Insurance [ Bailii ] Â Lloyds TSB General Insurance Holdings and others -v- Lloyds Bank Group Insurance Company Ltd [2003] UKHL 48 31 Jul 2003 HL Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead, Lord Hoffmann, Lord Hobhouse of Woodborough, Lord Millett, Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe Insurance, Financial Services 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: The absence of a training or monitoring system, even though an independent breach of the rules, was legally irrelevant to the civil liability of the TSB companies. It is wrong to allow doubts about the possibly practical application of the clause to produce a construction which undermines the balance of the clause. Each of the claims did not arise from a "single act or omission". Nor did each of them arise from a "related series of acts or omissions". Each arose from a separate contravention of rule 3.4(4)(a). The preliminary point raised was answered in favour of the insurers 1 Cites [ Bailii ] - [ House of Lords ] Â Graham -v- Entec Europe Ltd (T/A Exploration Associates) [2003] EWCA Civ 1177; Times, 10 September 2003 6 Aug 2003 CA Lord Justice Potter Lord Justice Chadwick And Mr Justice Cresswell Insurance, Limitation The claimant's bungalow suffered subsidence. Repair works were undertaken as advised by the defendants, but unsuccessfully. The claimant's insurers instructed experts negotiators to investigate with a view to a claim. The defendants now claimed the action was out of time, since the knowledge of the defects acquired by the loss adjusters was to be imputed to the claimants. Held: "The knowledge of a loss adjuster investigating and advising on a claim on behalf of insurers for the purpose of pursuing a subrogated claim by those insurers, is to be treated as the knowledge of the insurers for the purposes of s.14A(5)." Limitation Act 1980 14A 1 Cites [ Bailii ] Â Â Horbury Building Systems Ltd -v- Hampden Insurance Nv; ComC 9-Sep-2003 - [2003] EWHC 2110 (Comm) Â Law Debenture Trust Corporation (Channel Islands) Ltd -v- Lexington Insurance Company and others [2003] EWHC 2297 (Comm) 9 Oct 2003 ComC Insurance, Litigation Practice [ Bailii ] Â Eagle Star Insurance Company Limited -v- Cresswell & others [2003] EWHC 2224 (Comm) 10 Oct 2003 QBD The Honourable Mr Justice Morison Insurance [ Bailii ] Â Heath Lambert Ltd -v- Sociedad De Corretaje De Seguros and Another [2003] EWHC 2269 (Comm) 14 Oct 2003 ComC Insurance, Jurisdiction 1 Cites 1 Citers [ Bailii ] Â Ramco (Uk) Ltd and others -v- International Insurance Company of Hannover Ltd and Another [2003] EWHC 2360 (Comm) 15 Oct 2003 ComC Insurance 1 Cites 1 Citers [ Bailii ] Â Charman -v- New Cap Reinsurance Corporation Ltd [2003] EWCA Civ 1372 16 Oct 2003 CA Mr Justice Holman Lord Justice Potter Lord Justice Rix Insurance, Contract [ Bailii ] Â British Credit Trust Holdings -v- UK Insurance Limited [2003] EWHC 2404 (Comm) 24 Oct 2003 QBD The Honourable Mr Justice Morison Insurance, Litigation Practice 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. 1 Citers [ Bailii ] Â McGeown -v- District Travel Insurance Times, 27 November 2003 12 Nov 2003 CA Auld LJ, Mummery LJ, Keene LJ Insurance The claimant had holiday insurance protecting him against 'any permanent disability which prevents you from doing all your usual activities' She was injured in a road traffic accident, losing an eye. Held: Before a court could judge wording ambiguous, it had first to look at the context. The judge had concluded that the words 'all your usual activities' were ambiguous, but he should first have used permissible aids to construction, including identifying the commercial purpose of the document. Nor were the words a stand-alone provision. This provision was intended to provide a similar level of protection to the adjacent clauses, and the contra preferentem rule was inapplicable. 1 Cites Â Prifti and others -v- Musini Sociedad Anonima De Seguros Y Reaseguros [2003] EWHC 2796 (Comm) 21 Nov 2003 ComC Mr Justice Andrew Smith Insurance, European "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." 1 Citers [ Bailii ] Â Evans -v- The Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions and The Motor Insurers' Bureau C-63/01; Times, 09 December 2003; [2003] EUECJ C-63/01 4 Dec 2003 ECJ European, Insurance, Road Traffic ECJ Reference for a preliminary ruling: High Court of Justice (England & Wales), Queen's Bench Division - United Kingdom. Approximation of laws - Directive 84/5/EEC - Compulsory insurance against civil liability in respect of motor vehicles - Damage or injury caused by unidentified or insufficiently insured vehicles - Protection of victims - Defective transposition of the directive - Liability of the Member State concerned. The case concerned the United Kingdom’s implementation of a directive relating to insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles. Implementation had been effected by means of a number of agreements between the Secretary of State and an existing body, the Motor Insurers’ Bureau. In considering the adequacy of such implementation, the ECJ stated: "As to whether it is sufficient, for the purposes of transposing the Second Directive, to rely on an existing body, it must be borne in mind that, whilst legislative action on the part of each Member State is not necessarily required in order to implement a directive, it is essential for national law to guarantee that the national authorities will effectively apply the directive in full, that the legal position under national law should be sufficiently precise and clear and that individuals are made fully aware of all their rights and, where appropriate, may rely on them before the national courts . . . In those circumstances, it must be held that a body may be regarded as authorised by a Member State within the meaning of Article 1(4) of the Second Directive where its obligation to provide compensation to victims of damage or injury caused by unidentified or insufficiently insured vehicles derives from an agreement concluded between that body and a public authority of the Member State, provided that the agreement is interpreted and applied as obliging the body to provide victims with the compensation guaranteed to them by the Second Directive and provided that victims may apply directly to that body" Directive 84/5/EEC 1 Citers [ Bailii ] Â Drake Insurance Plc (In Provisional Liquidation) -v- Provident Insurance Plc [2003] EWCA Civ 1834 17 Dec 2003 CA Lord Justice Clarke Lord Justice Pill Lord Justice Rix Insurance, Consumer [ Bailii ] Â Geologistics, Regina (on the Application of) -v- Financial Services Compensation Scheme [2003] EWCA Civ 1905; [2004] Lloyd's Rep IR 336; [2004] 1 All ER (Comm) 943; [2004] 1 WLR 1719; [2004] 3 All ER 39 18 Dec 2003 CA Insurance Policyholders Protection Act 1975 6 [ Bailii ] Â Through Transport Mutual Insurance Association (Eurasia) Ltd -v- New India Assurance Co Ltd [2003] EWHC 3158 (Comm) 18 Dec 2003 ComC Mr Justice Moore-Bick Insurance, Transport EC Regulation 44/2001 1 Citers [ Bailii ] Â Regina (Geologistics) -v- Financial Services Compensation Scheme Times, 15 January 2004; [2003] EWCA Civ 1877 18 Dec 2003 CA Thorpe, Waller, Latham LJJ Insurance, Insolvency, Costs 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. Policyholder (Protection) Act 1975 6(4) 6(5) 1 Cites 1 Citers [ Bailii ] Â Â Murphy (By Her Litigation Friend Stockmont) -v- Holland; CA 19-Dec-2003 - [2003] EWCA (Civ) 1862; [2004] 1 FCR 1 Â Laws and others -v- The Society of Lloyd's [2003] EWCA Civ 1887; Times, 23 January 2004 19 Dec 2003 CA Lord Justice Clarke Lord Justice Waller Lord Justice Chadwick Insurance, Human Rights 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. European Convention on Human Rights 6 - Lloyd's Act 1982 14(3) - Human Rights Act 1998 3 1 Citers [ Bailii ] Â
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Insurance - From: 2003 To: 2003