Duty of assured to mitigate loss

English law does not, outside the marine insurance context, impose upon the assured any duty to take steps to prevent or mitigate loss: as long as the assured has not acted with reckless disregard for the safety of the insured subject matter, he is entitled to recover in the event that it is harmed by an insured peril. The corollary of the absence of a duty to prevent loss is that the assured is unable to recover from insurers the cost of measures taken by him which have prevented or mitigated an insured loss. In Gerling General Insurance Co v Canary Wharf Group plc [2005] EWHC 2234 (Comm) (forthcoming in [2006] Lloyd’s Rep IR) the assured unsuccessfully sought to persuade Christopher Clarke J that the policy wording granted coverage for this form of loss.