Insurance Law Monthly

The decision of Belinda Ang J in the High Court of Singapore in Grace Electrical Engineering Pte Ltd v EQ Insurance Co Ltd [2016] SGHC 233 is a useful illustration of a series of points relating to the operation of liability policies, in particular the creation and scope of conditions precedent.

In Cape Distribution Ltd v Cape Intermediate Holdings plc (No 2) [2016] EWHC 1119 (QB) Picken J has, in a further judgment on preliminary issues, tackled some of the complex problems left unresolved by the recent spate of Supreme Court decisions on insurance coverage for mesothelioma liability.

The Supreme Court of New Zealand in Prattley Enterprises Ltd v Vero Insurance New Zealand Ltd [2016] NZSC 158 has again addressed the problem of successive losses in the same period of insurance. In Ridgecrest New Zealand Ltd v IAG New Zealand Ltd [2014] NZSC 129 the Supreme Court rejected the marine insurance concept of “merger”, whereby unrepaired partial losses merge into a subsequent total loss in the same policy year, and held that the assured was entitled to recover for damage inflicted by each successive earthquake even though that damage had not been repaired for which no expenditure had been incurred.