Liability insurance

The meaning of ‘accidental’

The term ‘accident’ and its derivatives is widely used in liability, personal injury, property and other forms of insurance. The numerous cases on the meaning of that term decide that: (a) loss which is brought about by conduct of the assured which is deliberately aimed at producing that result, or which is reckless with regard to the consequences, is not accidental (see Gray v Barr [1971] 2 QB 554 – brandishing a loaded firearm, Dhak v Insurance Co of North America [1996] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 632 – deliberate self-induced intoxication); (b) a natural event may be an accident if it causes loss to be suffered by the assured, even if such loss is inevitable (see Mills v Smith [1964] 1 QB 30 – incursion of tree roots); and (c) the accident must be the proximate cause of the loss and not merely a background set of facts against which the loss occurs (see Tioxide Europe Ltd v CGU International Insurance plc [2005] Lloyd’s Rep IR 114 – accident was not introduction of contaminant, but loss caused by operation of contaminant). The most recent decision, that of Wilkie J in Hawley v Luminar Leisure plc [2005] EWHC 5 (QB), further demonstrates that whether or not there has been an accident is a question to be looked at from the point of view of the assured, even in the case of a liability policy.