Fraudulent claims

Fraudulent suppression of a defence

Although it appears to have been settled by Agapitos v Agnew [2003] QB 556 that the duty of utmost good faith and the duty to avoid making fraudulent claims are entirely distinct, and that failure to disclose in the claims process becomes a fraudulent claim only where there is the deliberate suppression of a known defence, these principles have yet to be the subject of a binding decision. In Marc Rich Agriculture Trading SA v Fortis Corporate Insurance NV [2004] EWHC 2632 (Comm) Cooke J recognised that there remained some (albeit very limited) room for argument, and refused to strike out a defence by insurers which pleaded that failure to disclose material facts in the claims process amounted to a breach of duty.