Insurance Law Monthly

In Pinnacle Living and Another v QBE Insurance [2023] VSC 621 Osborne J in the Victoria Supreme Court considered whether an admission of liability by an insurer followed by a promise of payment constituted a settlement agreement between the parties. The point arose in the context of whether the assured could bring proceedings on the settlement rather than under the policy itself. The court was satisfied that the settlement agreement was a binding contract, but that the assured had - by pursuing claims under the policy - walked away from the settlement.

In Aviva Insurance Ltd v McCoist and Another [2023] CSOH 62; [2024] Lloyd's Rep IR Plus 12 the factual question for Lord Menzies in the Court of Session, Outer House was whether the registered keeper of a car had caused or permitted his son to drive the car without insurance.

In Onyeari v Churchil Ltd [2024] EWHC 531 (KB) Henderson J discussed the effect of co-insurance on the immunity of a co-assured from subrogation proceedings brought by the insurer. The basic principle arising from the unusual facts of this case is that a co-assured cannot claim subrogation immunity for a loss that for whatever reason he could not claim from the insurers.

Two quite discrete issues arose in the Court of Appeal in AXIS Specialty Europe SE v Discovery Land Company LLC and Others [2024] EWCA Civ 7; [2024] Lloyd's Rep IR Plus 7: whether the fraud of one partner had been condoned by the other; and whether two separate acts of fraud were to be aggregated as a single claim. The Court of Appeal upheld the first instance judgment of Robin Knowles J, [2024] Lloyd's Rep IR 17, and held that the insurers could not rely upon the fraud clause and that for aggregation purposes there were two separate claims.