Recent Developments in Insurance Law - An Update with Alison Green

Introduction

In this webinar Alison Green will discuss recent developments in insurance law. She will look at several decisions on the important issue of when insurers are entitled to avoid insurance, including the first decision under the Insurance Act 2015 in November 2021. The judgment provides useful guidance on how the judiciary is likely to view insurers’ entitlement to avoid an insurance policy where there has been breach of the duty of fair presentation based on an allegation of material non-disclosure. The Court also considered avoidance in the context of the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012.

Alison will also discuss rulings by the Court of Appeal on matters that have caused controversy at first instance, namely the aggregation of insurance claims in the context of solicitors’ professional indemnity insurance and an extension of jurisdiction for employees to bring claims against employers liability insurers.

The construction of public liability policies have also posed questions which Alison will consider, including an appeal which reached the Supreme Court on the construction of a deliberate acts exclusion in a public liability policy and another case where a High Court construed a notification clause as a condition precedent.

COVID-19 continues to beset insurance litigation. The webinar will conclude by considering some of the ongoing insurance law issues relating to it.

What You Will Learn

This webinar will cover the following:

• Judicial approaches to insurers seeking to avoid insurance, including the recent cases of Berkshire Assets (West London) v AXA Insurance UK PLC on the Insurance Act 2015 and Jones v Zurich Insurance PLC on the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012
• Aggregation of claims particularly in the context of professional indemnity policies following the Court of Appeal decision in Baines v Dixon Coles & Gill
• Employment tribunals’ jurisdiction over employees’ claims following the Court of Appeal in Irwell Insurance Co Ltd v Watson
• Construction of public liability policies, considering the Supreme Court’s decision on deliberate acts exclusion clause in Burnett v International Insurance Co of Hanover and the High Court decision in 2021 on a notification clause in Arch Insurance (UK) Ltd v McCullough
• Insurance law issues of COVID-19 post the FCA business test case, including consideration of Rockliffe Hall Ltd v Travelers Insurance Co Ltd

This webinar was recorded on 14th June 2022