Insurance Law Monthly

The Supreme Court in Aspen Underwriting Ltd v Credit Europe Bank NV [2020] UKSC 11 has in part reversed the decision of the Court of Appeal [2018] EWCA Civ 2590 on the application of the Brussels Regulation Recast, Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 to claims involving insurers. The only reasoned judgment was delivered by Lord Hodge, the remainder of the Supreme Court agreeing with the judgment.

The issue in Swashplate Pty Ltd v Liberty Mutual Insurance Co [2020] FCA 15 was that a policy taken out in Australia related to a risk located in the US, with a 15-hour time difference between the two jurisdictions. Did the words “From 19 May 2018 to Date of Arrival” refer to the time in the US (insufficient packing having occurred earlier) or to the time in Australia (when the packing had not yet taken place)?

In Putta v Royal Sun Alliance Insurance plc [2020] EWHC 117 (QB) Stewart J dismissed an appeal from a judgment which disallowed much of the claimant’s claim for credit hire costs for the period during which his vehicle was undergoing repairs and testing. The main issue in the case was whether the claimant had been impecunious so as to justify entering into credit hire arrangements.

In Sarfraz v Akhtar [2020] EWHC 782 (QB) the claimant brought an action against the insurers of his own car in respect of injuries sustained in an accident while he was a passenger. His claim rested upon section 151(4) of the Road Traffic Act 1988, under which the liability of an insurer is removed where the claimant had allowed himself to be carried in an unlawfully taken vehicle.

In Watson v Hemingway Design Ltd [2019] UKEAT 0007 the Employment Appeal Tribunal has decided that employment tribunals have jurisdiction to determine transferred rights claims under the Third Parties (Rights Against Insurers) Act 2010.