Research Catalog

Title

Insurance contract law : the business insured's duty of disclosure and the law of warranties : a joint consultation paper / The Law Commission and the Scottish Law Commission.

Author

Great Britain. Law Commission.

Publication

London : The Stationery Office, 2012.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Additional Authors

Scottish Law Commission.

Description

xiv, 239 p. : ill.; 30 cm.

Summary

This joint discussion paper covers the following issues: the business insured's duty of disclosure, and the law of warranties. Under current law, a business policyholder has a duty to disclose every material circumstance it knows about the risk it wants to insure. Failure to do so entitles the insurer to avoid the contract, which means the insurer may treat it as if it did not exist and refuse all claims. The duty is unclear and sometimes poorly understood, while the consequence of breach is too harsh. The proposals aim to clarify how policyholders are expected to comply with the duty when presenting a risk to insurers and to encourage insurers to assist them in that task. Fairer remedies for breach where the policyholder has not been dishonest., are proposed. An insurance warranty is an important term which, unless exactly complied with by the policyholder, results in the automatic discharge of the insurer's liability for loss. It makes no difference if the breach is trivial, not material to the risk or if the policyholder remedies the breach prior to loss being incurred. The Commissions propose that breach of a warranty should suspend the insurer's liability for the duration of the breach; remedy of the breach restores liability. Where a term is designed to reduce a particular type of risk, liability should only be suspended in relation to that risk. This would be mandatory for consumer insurance but subject to freedom to contract for business insurance.

Series Statement

• Discussion paper / Scottish Law Commission ; no. 155
• Consultation paper / Law Commission (Great Britain) ; no. 204

Uniform Title

• Consultation paper (Great Britain. Law Commission) no. 204.
• Discussion paper (Scottish Law Commission) ; no. 155.

Alternative Title

Joint insurance law project : third consultation paper

Subject

• Insurance law > Great Britain
• Insurance policies > Great Britain

Genre/Form

• contracts.
• Contracts
• Contrats.

Note

• Duration of the consultation: 26 June 2012 to 26 September 2012.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Disclosure : introduction -- Disclosure : the current law -- Disclosure : comparative law -- Disclosure : the case for reform -- A fair presentation of the risk -- The policyholder's knowledge -- The broker's knowledge -- The insurer's knowledge -- Proportionate remedies -- The duty of good faith -- Warranties : current law -- Warranties : comparative law -- Consultee's views -- Warranties : proposals for reform (1) -- Warranties : proposals for reform (2) -- Assessing the impact of reform -- List of proposals and questions.

ISBN

• 9780118405287
• 0118405284

OCLC

• 799922242
• SCSB-10126098

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library