WHEELDON BROTHERS WASTE LTD V MILLENNIUM INSURANCE CO LTD

[2018] EWCA Civ 2403, Court of Appeal, Lord Justice Coulson, 18 October 2018

Insurance - Permission to appeal from decision of Technology and Construction Court - Whether findings of fact open to challenge

The assured suffered a fire in June 2014 at its waste processing plant near Manchester. The cause of the fire was identified as the result of the failure of the bearing in a conveyor leading to the conveyor belt burning and setting light to material around the foot of the conveyor. The policy contained conditions precedent and warranties. The Technology and Construction Court at first instance allowed the claim. (1) A condition precedent related to the storage of combustible materials within 6 m, but the court was satisfied that the material that caught fire (metal) was not combustible, that it had not been stored (in that it had simply been deposited as result of the operations). (2) A warranty required combustible stock to be removed whilst the business was closed, but there was evidence that there was a system in place to comply with the warranty and that there was accordingly no breach. (3) The condition precedent required the assured to maintain all machinery in efficient working order and to retain records, but the evidence was that that had been done and that records – although informal – had been maintained. (4) A condition precedent requiring a good system of housekeeping to be in place had been complied with.