August 2007

Notification of circumstances - Court gets tough on Assureds

Remarkably, notice of a circumstance (which may give rise to a loss or claim) was held to be invalid in the very recent judgement in HLB Kidsons v Lloyds Underwriters (judgement dated 9 August 2007) on the grounds that it was not given "as soon as practicable" even though the notice provision was not expressed to be a condition precedent to liability. It might normally be expected that the remedy for such a breach would be damages, not an outright disqualification from indemnity.

The decision also gives interesting consideration as to what constitutes valid and effective notification of a circumstance.

August 2007

Show me the money: Defendants ordered to disclose insurance cover to Claimant

The High Court's recent decision in Harcourt v Griffin and Others in which the defendants were ordered to disclose to the claimant, details of their insurance policy, is likely to set alarm bells ringing. The decision offends the basic principle that a non-party to an insurance contract has no right to know the particular coverage afforded by the insurance, specifically the limits of cover.

August 2007

This month's roundup of developments affecting the insurance industry sees the European Commission's draft Directive for Solvency II and its call for further advice from CEIOPS. Also in this issue, the HM Treasury consults on the implementation of the Reinsurance Directive.

Insurance Claims could top £3bn
Insurers face more than £3bn of claims from the floods in June and July, forcing up the cost of insurance and raising questions about its availability, analysts have warned. The Association of British Insurers said it had received 8,000 claims from the flooding over the past 72 hours. Its initial estimate of the insurance losses from the deluge over recent days is £500m, taking total claims from the summer flooding to at least £2bn.

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July 2007

Parallel proceedings: A repudiatory breach of an arbitration agreement?

It is established law that if parties agree to arbitrate, they are barred from litigating the same issue and the courts should decline jurisdiction.   Whilst issuing parallel proceedings will amount to a breach of an arbitration agreement, for there to be a repudiatory breach of the agreement to arbitrate, there must be clear and unequivocal conduct showing that the party no longer intends to be bound by the arbitration agreement.

July 2007

DLA Piper Reinsurance Bulletin July 2007

This monthly publication covers current issues, recent legal developments and court judgements relevant to the insurance and reinsurance industry.

In this issue:

• We look at developments in relation to the EU reinsurance, the proposed new Lloyd's Act, Solvency II and proposed legislation in Australia.
• We highlight some of the ways in which the Law Commission's consultation paper on Insurance Contract Law moves on from its previous issues papers.

Case notes

• Brokers' duties: Acting for insured and reinsured in HIH v JLT.
• Arbitration: Jurisdiction issues considered in C v D.
• Reinsurance ceding commission: Some points as to evidence arising in UIC Ltd v Aon.

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July 2007

The devil in the details? The great significance of the jurisdiction and choice of law of a contract 

Choosing the jurisdiction and applicable law for disputes arising out of an insurance or reinsurance contract may be secondary to sorting out the actual terms of cover, but the importance of the choice should not be under-estimated. A good lesson in the different approaches of even mainstream insurance jurisdictions can be had by looking at the experience of the insurers embroiled in the film finance saga, which has kept banks, insurers, reinsurers and the courts worldwide busy for the last seven years.

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