Insurance Law Monthly

In Haberdashers’ Aske’s Federation Trust Ltd v Lakehouse Contracts Ltd and Others [2018] EWHC 558 (TCC) Fraser J addressed the vexed question of whether a sub-contractor was entitled to the protection of a Project Insurance policy covering all sub-contractors and was therefore immune from subrogation proceedings.

It is settled law that an assured who has insured on an “old for old” replacement sum has to bear the cost of betterment, ie the benefit secured by the assured for receiving a higher standard repaired property than that originally lost.

In Crowden and Another v QBE Insurance (Europe) Ltd [2017] EWHC 2597 (Comm) Peter MacDonald Eggers QC, sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court, undertook a detailed analysis of the Insolvency Exclusion commonly found in professional indemnity policies issued to financial advisers. The analysis raised important questions of construction and causation.

The New South Wales Court of Appeal in Commonwealth Steel Co Ltd v BHP Billiton Marine & General Insurance Ltd [2018] NSWCA 242 has upheld the first instance decision of Hammerschlag J in his interpretation of a deductible clause in an employers’ liability policy. The question was whether an indexing provision applied to the sum insured or to the deductible.

It is trite law that a marine policy – and indeed any other property policy – covers physical loss or damage but not economic loss. The issue before Sir Ross Cranston in Engelhart CTP (US) LLC v Lloyd’s Syndicate 1221 [2018] EWHC 900 (Comm) was whether the specific terms of the marine policy in that case operated to reverse the basic rule. The hearing was purely on the construction of the policy, so the case proceeded on the basis of assumed facts.