The interpretation process is objective, not subjective. Where the meaning of any policy is clear, effect must be given to it. The court cannot substitute what it regards as reasonable, sensible or business-like for the words actually used. The court should not in those circumstances rewrite the contract made by the parties. Courts should not ‘make … Continue reading
An American court has held that an insurer’s ‘premises pollution liability’ policy only covers environmental pollution and not the COVID-19 outbreak. Because COVID-19 is a type of virus it does not constitute traditional environmental pollution. The court said that the policy only covers pollutants commonly thought of as environmental pollution. The insured had argued that … Continue reading
The Constitutional Court in Van der Walt v The State set aside a doctor’s criminal conviction for culpable homicide on the basis of irregularities committed by the regional magistrate, which infringed the doctor’s right to a fair trial. The conviction was not set aside on the merits. Therefore, whether the doctor’s guilt was proved beyond a reasonable … Continue reading
The application of the contra proferentum rule was one of the issues which the English High Court considered in Financial Conduct Authority v Arch Insurance (UK) Limited and Others. The rule provides that where there is doubt about the meaning of a contract, the words will be construed against the person who proffered them. The … Continue reading
At common law when a wrong is done to a company only the company can sue for the damage caused to it. That does not mean that the shareholders of the company may not consequentially suffer any loss (what is known as a reflective loss). Any negative impact the wrongdoing has on the company is … Continue reading
The English high court, in a test case between the Financial Conduct Authority and Arch Insurance (UK) Limited and a number of other insurers, engaged in a nuanced analysis of their different policy wordings relating to business interruption cover for COVID-19 related losses. The court largely sought to resolve causation issues by interpreting each policy. … Continue reading
For international commercial contracts subject to an arbitration agreement to resolve disputes (including insurance or reinsurance agreements), two systems of national law may be engaged: The law governing the contract from which the dispute has arisen. The law governing the arbitration. That is usually the law of the seat of the arbitration – the place … Continue reading
The Eastern Cape MEC for Health was held vicariously liable for the negligent conduct of provincial hospital nursing staff in failing to take the necessary steps to ensure that a patient’s wound was properly assessed and cleaned and that all debris, specifically a large shard of glass, had been removed. The patient’s wound became infected … Continue reading
The Gauteng High Court considered what constitutes armed robbery, theft and hijacking as indemnifiable events under an insurance policy in Anabella Resources CC v Genric Insurance Company. The policy did not contain a definition of armed robbery and the definition of theft and hijacking required ‘actual lawful control’ by the insured or its employees of … Continue reading
The owner of a dog that attacks a person who neither provoked the attack nor by their negligence directly caused their own injury is liable, as owner, to make good the resultant damages. Based on Roman law, for nearly 200 years the law in South Africa has been accepted that owners of animals are strictly … Continue reading
An American court has confirmed that government shutdown orders did not constitute ‘direct physical loss’ that would trigger an indemnity under the commercial insurance held by a group of restaurants (in Rose’s 1 LLC et al v Erie Insurance Exchange). The court said that: insurance policies are to be enforced in accordance with the real … Continue reading
A court may not refuse to enforce contractual terms on the basis that the enforcement would, in its subjective view, be unfair, unreasonable or unduly harsh. It is only where a contractual term or its enforcement is so unfair, unreasonable or unjust that it is contrary to public policy that a court may refuse to … Continue reading
The insured, in an Israeli Supreme Court case, claimed under a jewellers block policy alleging he had been a victim of a violent robbery in which diamonds and cash worth approximately $11 million had been stolen. The evidence established that diamonds worth about $6 million of the claim were in the insured’s stock and had … Continue reading
At common law, in the absence of a fraud clause in the insurance policy, fraud can only be relied upon to the extent to which it prejudices the insurer. If an element of the claim is fraudulent only the fraudulent portion of the claim is forfeited at common law. There is no implied term in … Continue reading
An arbitration or similar adjudication clause, contained in an agreement that is found to have been induced by fraud, does not survive the avoidance of the agreement. That would be offensive to justice. The position can only change if the parties specifically make provision in their contract for a dispute regarding fraud, misrepresentation or concealment … Continue reading
In South Africa and the United Kingdom, coronavirus coverage disputes are centring around the interpretation of various non-damage extensions provided under the policy’s business interruption section. In North America, both in Canada and the United States, the focus has been whether COVID-19 caused direct physical loss or damage to the insured property triggering business interruption … Continue reading
Ambiguous insurance contracts may be construed against the insurer. In case of doubt and where there is ambiguity a contract, including an insurance policy, may be construed against the contracting party by whom it was formulated. This is generally known as the contra proferentem rule (see for example, Pereira v Marine and Trade Insurance Co … Continue reading
An insurance contract is presumed to require that the insured peril must be the proximate cause of the insured’s loss (see Incorporated General Insurance Ltd v A.R. Shooter trading as Shooter’s Fisheries 1987). Causation involves two distinct enquiries namely factual causation and then legal causation. The test for factual causation is generally described as the … Continue reading
Readers will have seen the recent Guardrisk judgment. The applicant, a Cape Town restaurant, sought urgent declaratory relief that the insurer was obliged to indemnify it in terms of the business interruption section of the policy for loss suffered as a result of the closure of the restaurant from 26 March 2020. The infectious disease … Continue reading
The Supreme Court of Appeal judgment of Centriq Insurance Company Limited and Oosthuizen contains a useful summary of the general principles of interpretation of insurance policies and other contracts: Insurance policies are contracts like any other. Contract provisions must be construed having regard to their language, context and purpose in what is a unitary exercise. … Continue reading
Welcome to Volume 5 of our Big Read Book Series: The Comic Book Edition. You can download your copy here, and identify your favourite insurance director. This volume should be read together with Volume 2 of the Big Read Book Series. Both deal with the avoidance and cancellation of non-life policies. We are pleased that … Continue reading
From time to time liability insurers may agree to begin defending a claim for an insured while reserving their rights to deny coverage because investigations are not yet complete. Sometimes the policy wording provides expressly for that situation. Or insurers may reserve their rights on an ad hoc basis While there is no South African … Continue reading
A plaintiff who suffers damage usually has 3 years within which to sue the defendant. But a claim against the State must be notified within 6 months of an incident occurring. This notification comes before the summons is served. If a claim is not notified within this time period (set out in the Institution of … Continue reading
Where there are mutually destructive versions of an oral agreement, a court will side with the version which is more probable considering the circumstances. The credibility of witnesses, including whether their evidence is coherent and consistent, will be taken into account. The applicant in Meintjies v Annandale and another, an owner of an accounting business … Continue reading