The past few months have witnessed a number of significant legal events affecting the insurance industry.
COVID-19 continues to lead the headlines. In September, the High Court in England handed down a significant judgment that considered typical Business Interruption policy wordings and largely found in favour of claimants with COVID-19 related business revenue losses. Similar litigation has begun in Australia and is being considered in New Zealand. It is timely, given the nature of these claims which involve large numbers of insureds with similar or identical policy wording, that the Law Commission is making progress again with its class actions and litigation funding project.
Insurers are also preparing for the Financial Services Legislative Amendments Act, which comes into effect in May 2021, and work continues on the fair conduct regime under the Financial Markets (Conduct of Financial Institutions) Amendment Bill.
We are seeing important decisions from the Canterbury Earthquakes Insurance Tribunal which provide guidance as to its approach to deciding cases, with a recent case underscoring the need for claimants to prove their claims notwithstanding the inquisitorial nature of the Tribunal. In addition, Southern Response’s decision not to appeal the Court of Appeal’s decision in Dodds leaves questions open for insurers if claimants feel that they were misled into accepting settlements.
We discuss these developments and more in this edition of Cover to Cover. We hope you find it thought-provoking and useful.
This issue contains seven digital articles. Follow the links below to read each one.
- Landmark UK business interruption case
- Court of Appeal upholds High Court decision
- The Privacy Act 2020: What insurers need to know
- Cyber attacks and the insurance response
- Class actions and litigation funding project revived
- No safe haven for contractors misusing data
- Tribunal requires claimants to “prove their case”
- Regulatory update: Advice and conduct regimes
- Court of Appeal clarifies effect of aggregation clauses
- Insurer remedies for fraudulent claims
