Liability insurance: jurisdiction

The effect of the EU’s jurisdictional rules set out in the Brussels Regulation Recast, Commission Regulation 1215/2012, is to set out specific rules for the protection of policyholders. In general terms, an assured can only be sued in the member state of his domicile, whereas an assured has a choice of fora in which to sue the insurer, including the courts of the member state of the assured’s own domicile. Article 13 of the Regulation extends that principle to liability insurance by allowing the victim to sue the liability insurers of the assured in the courts of the victim’s own domicile where the law applicable to the claim against the assured so permits.

The further question in Lackey v Mallorca Mega Resorts SL and Another [2019] EWHC 1028 (QB) was whether theassured could be joined to the proceedings against the insurers in case where there was potentially a shortfall of cover under the policy. That question had been determined in favour of joinder by the Court of Appeal in Mapfre Mutualidad Compania de Seguros y Reaseguros SA v Keefe [2016] Lloyd’s Rep IR 94, but the question in Lackey was whether Keefe remained good law.