Liability insurance: aggregation

The law has, in the context of aggregation clauses, drawn a clear distinction between “events” (the what) and “original causes” (the why). To date most of the cases have concerned events and relatively few have involved the definition of originating cause. The judgment of HHJ Pelling QC in Spire Healthcare Ltd v Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance plc [2020] EWHC 3299 (Comm); [2021] Lloyd’s Rep IR Plus 7 contains an excellent analysis of the latter.

Spire : the facts