Insurance Law Monthly
Scope of cover
It is generally accepted that a public liability policy means precisely what it says, and that it provides the assured against
liability for losses inflicted on the public in respect of which tort claims will lie. Pure contractual claims are excluded
because such claims are not ‘public liability’ at all but rather arise from liabilities privately incurred. Public liability
policies do cover parallel contract and tort claims, but not independent contractual claims. The exclusion of pure contract
claims from public liability policies was emphasised by Mr Justice Field in
Tesco Stores Ltd v Constable
[2007] EWHC 2088 (Comm).