Liability insurance: reasonable care, compliance

The Victoria Court of Appeal has in Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s of London v Dhillon Scaffolding Pty Ltd [2022] VSCA 92 reversed the decision of Forbes J in the Victoria Supreme Court in Noori v Majestic Plumbing Services Pty Ltd [2021] VSC 63; [2022] Lloyd’s Rep IR 16 on the question whether the assured had been in breach of a reasonable care exclusion clause. There was no challenge to the principle that a reasonable care exclusion clause does not mean what it says and requires a deliberate courting of the risk but the Court of Appeal, unlike Forbes J, felt that the assured had crossed the line into recklessness.

Dhillon Scaffolding : the facts