South Africa and global insurance, financial institutions, banking and general law know–how
In early June 2025 the Federal Court of Australia held that the following term in a home and contents insurance policy was not ambiguous because it implied materiality, it did not cause a significant imbalance in the rights and obligations of the parties, and it was reasonably necessary to protect the insurer’s legitimate interests:
Tell…
The issue which the parties sought to have determined were whether the benefits of a life insurance policy received by the surviving community-of-property spouse as beneficiary were protected under section 63 of the Long-term Insurance Act, 1998 (LTIA). The provisional trustees of the insolvent joint estate alleged that the transaction, by which the benefits were immediately…
In April 2025, a Connecticut, US, decision held that rainwater that flooded a roof which a roof drain could not handle, thus flooding the roof terrace and entering the third floor of a building under the closed terrace door was not “surface water” for the purposes of an exclusion in the policy.
An all-risk commercial…
In a surprising decision which is on appeal, the High Court held that the President’s decision to assent to and assign the National Health Insurance Bill is reviewable because all executive decisions are reviewable under the principle of legality or the law relating to the review of administrative decisions. The court invoked section 173 of the…
In mid-May 2025, the Supreme Court of Appeal found that the members of a close corporation were members of the governing body of that juristic person and therefore that the completion of extinctive prescription had been delayed under section 13(1)(e) of the Prescription Act, 1969 whilst the debtors were members of the CC.
A dispute arose…
At the end of April 2025, the Constitutional Court set aside a policy directive by the prisons authorities that prohibited the use of personal computers in cells for the purposes of further education in circumstances where the use is reasonably required for such further education. In order to avail themselves of the benefits of this…
An appeal court judgment from Virginia, USA upheld the lower court’s finding that the bump-up exclusion in a D&O policy excluded insurers’ liability to indemnify a merging party against a USD90 million federal securities law claims by shareholders. The claimants alleged that the amount received for the shares in the merger were too low because of…
An appeal court in the US state of Virginia has reaffirmed the caution to resist the temptation to find ambiguity in the wording of a policy (and therefore any contract). A great many words – viewed in isolation – have alternative, and sometimes quite different, dictionary meanings. We must resist the temptation to “give up…
In March 2025 a Canadian appeal court held that the insured, who had a licence to cultivate marijuana at his premises, was entitled to insurance cover for his home that was destroyed by an accidental fire that started in the kitchen despite an exclusion in the policy relating to marijuana cultivation on the property. An…
In the UK there is legislation regarding exposure to risks to health and safety by third parties from the operations of a business. Legislation, like the South African Occupational Health and Safety Act, protects employees against exposure to substances hazardous to health. There have been a number of prosecutions in the UK recently for dust…
