That sinking feeling – proximate cause and insurance

By Donald Dinnie on January 20, 2020 Posted in Insurance

A German appeal court determined, in a marine claim, that the proximate cause of a vessel’s grounding and ultimate sinking after its main engine cut out was bad weather rather than an engine problem. Accordingly the loss was held to be proximately caused by peril of the sea, covered under the relevant policy. The events … Continue reading

Exclusion of loss arising from arrest, restraint, detainment

By Patrick Bracher (ZA) on June 4, 2018 Posted in Insurance

The UK Supreme Court examined the question whether a vessel detained in Venezuela as a result of being used by a drug cartel to smuggle cocaine strapped to the hull fell within the exclusion for ‘arrest, restraint, detainment, confiscation or expropriation … by reason of infringement of any customs … regulations’. The owners of the … Continue reading

Proximate cause – hacked computer of negligent employee

By Patrick Bracher (ZA) on June 6, 2016 Posted in Insurance

A US bank employee left her individual token in her computer and left the computer running at the end of a work day. Overnight two unauthorised wire transfers had been made to different banks in Poland and one of $485 000 could not be recovered. The policy covered loss resulting from hacking but excluding loss ’caused … Continue reading