Utmost good faith

Waiving the duty of utmost good faith

The House of Lords handed down its long-awaited decision in HIH Casualty and General Insurance Ltd v Chase Manhattan Bank [2003] UKHL 6 at the end of February 2003. The case sheds a good deal of light on the ability of the parties to an insurance contract to exclude or modify the duty of utmost good faith. Important points have, however, been left undecided. The House of Lords has on certain critical issues overturned the ruling of the Court of Appeal, which had in turn modified the first instance decision of Aikens J. Certain of the points which were considered in the lower courts did not re-emerge on appeal.