Unexpected loss and proof of loss

Widefree Ltd v Brit Insurance Ltd [2009] EWHC 3671 (QB), 22 December 2009, a decision of Peter Leaver QC, sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court, turns on its facts and indeed no authority is cited in the lengthy judgment. However, there is an interesting analysis of ‘unexpected loss’ clauses, which feature quite regularly in property covers but which have never before been judicially construed. There are also interesting comments on the scope of claims cooperation provisions.

Widefree: the insurance

The claimant company operated a jeweller’s shop from premises in Hatton Garden, London. It was owned by Mr Abrahams, and he ran it with his wife, assisted by a workshop manager (Mr Dodge) and a security guard (Mr Downer). The claimant was insured by the defendant insurers, Brit, under a policy which covered stock against ‘loss or damage from any cause whatsoever’. There were two policy provisions relevant in the present case. The first was an ‘unexplained loss’ exclusion, which removed cover in respect of: