The duty of fair presentation: materiality and inducement

Zurich Insurance plc v Niramax Group Ltd [2021] EWCA Civ 590 was an appeal to the Court of Appeal from the first instance decision of Cockerill J. The case involved a variety of non-disclosure defences in respect of a policy on plant used in a waste recycling business. Most of the matters related to the placement of an entirely separate property policy, it being contended that false statements made to the property insurers were material to the plant policy.

The appeal to the Court of Appeal was on one point, namely, the test for inducement and the need for a causal link between the failure to disclose and the premium actually charged. The placement was in 2015, just predating the implementation of the Insurance Act 2015 and so the matter was governed by the Marine Insurance Act 1906, although the outcome would not have been changed by the new legislation.