Utmost good faith

Awareness of material facts

For the purposes of the duty of disclosure, the assured is required to disclose all material facts known to him. He is not excused from the duty by failing to disclose facts which he knew to exist but which he did not appreciate as being material to the underwriters. He is, however, not required to disclose facts of which he was unaware, and the courts have accepted that the assured is not required to go on a fishing expedition prior to making the contract in order to discover facts for the purposes of disclosure. The latter point has again been made, by Morison J in Groupama Insurance Co Ltd v Overseas Partners Re Ltd [2003] EWHC 34 (Comm), forthcoming in [2003] Lloyd’s Rep IR, a decision involving retrocession.