The Insurance Act 2015

The Insurance Act 2015 ('the Act') is the first comprehensive statutory reform of the insurance law of the United Kingdom since the Marine Insurance Act 1906. It introduces thorough and, in some cases, fairly drastic reform of some of the core tenets of UK insurance law, including: the insured’s pre-contractual duty to the insurer, and remedies for its breach; the knowledge of the insured and the insurer for the purposes of the pre-contractual duty; the effect of insurance warranties and other terms tending to reduce the risk of loss; fraudulent claims; and damages for failure to pay an insurance claim in a reasonable time. This book is a thorough introduction to the Act. It focuses primarily on the impact of the Act on English law as applied to non-consumer insurance and reinsurance. Of assistance not only to insurance lawyers and members of the judiciary, but also underwriters, claims handlers, brokers and buyers of non-consumer insurance policies, this book covers each of the core changes brought about by the Act. It also analyses the particular ways in which the Act differs from existing law, by reference to the Marine Insurance Act 1906, and cases decided under the old law.

The Insurance Act 2015 represents the first major reform of English commercial insurance law for many years. Its impact will be felt not only in England, where it will greatly affect both maritime and commercial insurance practice, but also elsewhere where English law is the law of choice in insurance contracts. The Insurance Act 2015: A New Regime for Commercial and Marine Insurance Law analyses in depth the key aspects of the Act and extensively restates and modifies a number of legal principles applying both at common law and under the Marine Insurance Act 1906. Offering much more than the usual commentary on legislation, this book provides critical in-depth analysis of the important topics as was all coverage of areas likely to spawn disputes in future. Written by leading practitioners and academics in the field, this book offers comprehensive, coherent and practical legal analysis of the changes introduced by the Insurance Act 2015. It is a key point of reference for practitioners, insurance professionals and academics.

The Insurance Act 2015 represents the first major reform of English commercial insurance law for many years. Its impact will be felt not only in England, where it will greatly affect both maritime and commercial insurance practice, but also elsewhere where English law is the law of choice in insurance contracts. The Insurance Act 2015: A New Regime for Commercial and Marine Insurance Law analyses in depth the key aspects of the Act and extensively restates and modifies a number of legal principles applying both at common law and under the Marine Insurance Act 1906. Offering much more than the usual commentary on legislation, this book provides critical in-depth analysis of the important topics as was all coverage of areas likely to spawn disputes in future. Written by leading practitioners and academics in the field, this book offers comprehensive, coherent and practical legal analysis of the changes introduced by the Insurance Act 2015. It is a key point of reference for practitioners, insurance professionals and academics.

A section-by-section critical comparison of the Marine Insurance Act 1906 and Insurance Act 2015, an analysis of the doctrine of uberrimæ fidei and a revision of selected cases brought before English courts both before and after the enactment of the new Act to identify a pattern of evolution towards modern adjudication of insurance matters. However, no suggestion for legislative reform is proffered herein. The Marine Insurance Act 1906 contains provisions dealing specifically with maritime matters which may be directly applicable to any contract of insurance by removing or replacing certain terms. The definition of a marine insurance contract in section 1, for example, "A contract of marine insurance is a contract whereby the insurer undertakes to indemnify the assured, in manner and to the extent thereby agreed, against marine losses, that is to say, the losses incident to marine adventure," could refer to any contract simply by deleting the word "marine." The bulk of the Marine Insurance Act articulates universal concepts and principles generally applicable to the entire insurance industry, namely disclosures and representations, warranties and loss, hence its global significance in that field for over a century, and its broad implementation and transposition in the legal systems of many Commonwealth nations. But despite its meticulousness and merits, a glaring point of contention is the infamous principle of uberrimæ fidei (or "utmost good faith") for insurance contracts set out in section 17, "A contract of marine insurance is a contract based upon the utmost good faith, and, if the utmost good faith be not observed by either party, the contract may be avoided by the other party," which originated in 1766 based on Lord Mansfield's comments in Carter v Boehm: "Insurance is a contract based upon speculation. The special facts, upon which the contingent chance is to be computed, lie most commonly in the knowledge of the insured only; the underwriter trusts to his representation and proceeds upon the confidence that he does not keep back any circumstance in his knowledge, to mislead the underwriter into a belief that the circumstance does not exist, and to induce him to estimate the risk as if it did not exist. Good faith forbids either party by concealing what he privately knows, to draw the other into a bargain from his ignorance of that fact, and his believing the contrary."Contrastingly, in a clear effort to democratise the legal framework for insurance contracts, the Insurance Act 2015 enshrines the duty of fair presentation in section 3, "Before a contract of insurance is entered into, the insured must make to the insurer a fair presentation of the risk," and effectively derogated the cumbersome "utmost good faith" precept to the dustbin of history in section 14, "Any rule of law permitting a party to a contract of insurance to avoid the contract on the ground that the utmost good faith has not been observed by the other party is abolished," boldly doing away with the archaic Latin expression. The Insurance Act also concisely provides for warranties and remedies for fraud in five succinct sections and abolishes so-called "basis of the contract" clauses in section 9, "This section applies to representations made by the insured [which are] not capable of being converted into a warranty by means of any provision of the non-consumer insurance contract (or of the terms of the variation), or of any other contract (and whether by declaring the representation to form the basis of the contract or otherwise)." by prohibiting the conversion of any representation by the insured into a warranty by means of contractual provision, which was originally obligated in Marine Insurance Act, section 35 (2), "An express warranty must be included in, or written upon, the policy, or must be contained in some document incorporated by reference into the policy."

The book provides a detailed review of efforts to reform the law on insurance warranties in Australia, New Zealand and the UK, arguing that none of these have been successful. The text proposes a radical new approach to reform of this area of the law, demonstrating through detailed stress testing of these proposals that they would deliver more consistent and equitable outcomes than those achieved to date. Reform of the historically inequitable law of insurance warranties in commercial insurance has been introduced in Australia, New Zealand and, most recently, the UK. This book demonstrates that all these reforms have flaws and that none of them can be relied upon to deliver consistently equitable and predictable outcomes; in particular the UK’s, as yet largely untested, Insurance Act 2015 is shown to have serious flaws that have not previously been identified. Building on lessons from these three jurisdictions, the book sets out an alternative approach for dealing with breaches of insurance warranties and demonstrates that this would consistently deliver better outcomes than any of the existing attempts at reforming this area of the law. Providing an unprecedented multi-jurisdictional review of the law on insurance warranties and in particular the treatment of warranties in the Insurance Act 2015, as well as outlining an innovative and radical alternative approach to reform, the book will be of considerable interest and value to practitioners, academics and students, as well as to other common law jurisdictions contemplating reform of this area of the law.

Good Faith and Insurance Contracts sets out an exhaustive analysis of the law concerning the duty of utmost good faith, as applied to insurance contracts. Now in its fourth edition, it has been updated to address the arrival of the Insurance Act 2015, as well as any references to new case law. In addition, it synthesises all known judicial decisions by the English Courts concerning good faith in this area. This book is still the only text devoted to a discussion of the duty of utmost good faith applicable to insurance contracts. As good faith is an issue which arises in respect of all insurance contracts, it is a book which will be extremely useful to lawyers involved in insurance as well as insurance practitioners.

Derived from the renowned multi-volume International Encyclopaedia of Laws, this book provides valuable practical insight into both public supervisory legislation concerning insurance and private insurance contract law in the United Kingdom. An informative general introduction surveying the legal, political, financial, and commercial background and surroundings of insurance provides a sound foundation for the specific detail that follows. The book covers all essential aspects of the law and regulation governing insurance policies and instruments. Its detailed exposition includes examination of the form of the insurance company and its reserves and investments; the insurance contract; the legal aspects of the various branches of property and liability insurance; motor vehicle insurance schemes; life insurance, health insurance, and workmen’s compensation schemes; reinsurance, co-insurance, and pooling; taxation of insurance; and risk management and prevention. Succinct yet eminently practical, the book will be a valuable resource for lawyers handling cases affecting the United Kingdom. It will be of practical utility to those both in public service and private practice called on to develop and to apply the laws of insurance, and of special interest as a contribution to the much-needed harmonization of insurance law.

An Act to make new provision about insurance contracts; to amend the Third Parties (Rights against Insurers) Act 2010 in relation to the insured persons to whom that Act applie