Warranties

Nature of warranties

Warranties come in a variety of forms. Some relate to the factual state of affairs existing at the date of the policy (present warranties); others impose continuing obligations on the assured during the currency of the policy (continuing warranties); and a third class is concerned purely with the assured’s intentions or beliefs at the outset. The distinctions between present and future warranties, and between present factual warranties and warranties of intention, are not always easy to draw, but were of some significance in Agapitos v Agnew (No 2) [2002] EWHC 1558 (Comm), to be reported in [2003] Lloyd’s Rep IR, a decision of Moore-Bick J. This case is a sequel to the earlier ruling of the Court of Appeal, Agapitos v Agnew [2002] Lloyd’s Rep IR 573 , where it was held that insurers could not rely upon allegedly false statements made in the assured’s points of claim as justifying a denial of liability on the basis of a fraudulent claim, as any post-proceedings fraud was a matter for the court and not for the insurers.