Insurance Law Monthly

The nature of reform In January 2006 the Law Commission launched its investigation into the operation of insurance law in the UK, with a view to wide-ranging reform. The initial process was ‘scoping’, in which the Law Commission invited..

The decision of Toulson J in ING Re (UK) Ltd v R&V Versicherung AG [2006] EWHC 1544 (Comm) is in essence an application of relatively straightforward principles of agency law to complex facts. The defendant reinsurers refused to accept the validity of a reinsurance treaty entered into on their behalf by underwriting agents who had been engaged in a fraudulent scheme to defraud the reinsurers. The Court was required to decide whether the underwriting agent had apparent authority to bind the reinsurers or, if not, whether the reinsurers had ratified the treaty.

Section 3 of the Compensation Act 2006 was passed following a major public outcry against the decision of the House of Lords in Barker v Corus (UK) plc [2006] UKHL 20. The effect of the legislation is to restore what was believed to be the position following Fairchild v Glenhaven Funeral Services Ltd [2003] 1 AC 32.

In Winterthur Swiss Insurance Co and another v AG (Manchester) Ltd and others [2006] EWHC 839 (Comm) (The TAG Group Litigation) Aikens J laid down guiding principles affecting the confidentiality of documents generated in the course of a claim supported by an after the event policy.