Insurance Law Monthly

In Armstead v Royal Sun Alliance Insurance Co Ltd [2022] EWCA Civ 497 the Court of Appeal has removed the possibility of credit hire companies claiming – through their hirers – compensation for loss of use of a damaged hire vehicle.

The judgment of Butcher J in Quadra Commodities SA v XL Insurance Co SE [2022] EWHC 431 (Comm) contains detailed discussion of the modern approach to insurable interest and, perhaps most importantly, the first judicial analysis of the implied term in insurance policies added by section 13A of the Insurance Act 2015 whereby an insurer faces liability in damages for late payment of a claim.

The Victoria Court of Appeal has in Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s of London v Dhillon Scaffolding Pty Ltd [2022] VSCA 92 reversed the decision of Forbes J in the Victoria Supreme Court in Noori v Majestic Plumbing Services Pty Ltd [2021] VSC 63; [2022] Lloyd’s Rep IR 16 on the question whether the assured had been in breach of a reasonable care exclusion clause. There was no challenge to the principle that a reasonable care exclusion clause does not mean what it says and requires a deliberate courting of the risk but the Court of Appeal, unlike Forbes J, felt that the assured had crossed the line into recklessness.