Last year we commented on Young v. Royal and Sun Alliance plc [2019] CSOH 32 which was the first case to be decided under the Insurance Act (IA) 2015. The Scottish appeal court (Inner House, Court of Session) has recently upheld the first instance decision [2020] CSIH 25.
Let us remind our readers the facts of the case briefly. The co-assureds (Mr Young and Kaim Park Investments Ltd, a company of which Mr Young was a director) brought a claim of £ 7.2 million for extensive fire damage to commercial premises insured. The insurer, Royal and Sun Alliance plc, rejected the claim on the basis that the assured failed to disclose material information in breach of the duty of fair presentation under the Insurance Act (IA) 2015. The policy had been entered through an insurance broker. The assured was requested by the insurance broker to fill in a proposal form which was prepared using the broker’s software. One part of the proposal form required the proposer to select from various options in a drop-down menu. The instruction read: “Select any of the following that apply to any proposer, director or partner of the Trade or Business or its Subsidiary Companies if they have ever, either personally or in any business capacity: …” The drop-down menu that followed this instruction included an option that any of the persons identified had been declared bankrupt or insolvent. Neither Mr Young nor Kaim Park Investments had been declared bankrupt or insolvent, however, Mr Young had previously been a director of four other companies which had entered into insolvency. The option which was selected on the proposal form was “None”. Accordingly, the proposal forwarded to the insurer showed the option selected, i.e. “None”, and the list of persons to which the declaration related. Once receiving the presentation, the insurer sent an e-mail to the brokers providing a quote for cover and a list of conditions. The conditions, inter alia, included: “Insured has never been declared bankrupt or insolvent.”
Before the commercial judge, Lady Wolffe, the assured’s argument was that the insurer’s e-mail response amounted to a waiver by the insurer of its right to receive the undisclosed information regarding the four insolvent companies. Section 3(5)(e) of the IA stipulates that the assured is not required to disclose a circumstance “if it is something as to which the insurer waives information.”
It needs to be stressed that the introduction of the IA 2015 does not alter the legal position with regard to waiver established by case law pre-dating the 2015 Act. On that basis, with reference to Doheny v. New India Assurance Co [2005] 1 All ER (Comm) 382, the commercial judge indicated that waiver could be established in a case where the insurer had asked a “limiting question” such that the assured could reasonably infer that the insurer had no interest in knowing information falling outwith the scope of the question. The classic example is where the proposal form asks about convictions within the last 5 years and which can instruct waiver of information about convictions more than 5 years ago. This was not held to be the case here and accordingly it was held that there was no waiver on the part of the insurer with regard to the information not fully disclosed (i.e. the involvement of Mr Young in four insolvent companies).
The assured appealed. The main argument brought forward by the assured was that by showing that it was interested in one aspect of Mr Young’s experience of insolvency, the insurer had impliedly demonstrated that it was not interested in others, and, therefore restricted Mr Young’s duty of disclosure. The Court of Session indicated that the commercial judge successfully identified relevant legal principles in that to found implied waiver of the insurer of this nature it is necessary to show that it made an inquiry directing the assured to provide certain information but no other information. This means that the appeal turned on the construction of a single email sent by the insurer to the brokers when providing a quote (during the pre-contractual stage). The Inner Court found that there was nothing in the email that amounted to an inquiry. Essentially, the insurers were responding to the broker’s request to provide a quotation based on the information provided. The response of the insurers in the relevant email was, therefore, an offer to insure on a variety of terms and conditions. It was not an inquiry and did not amount to limited concern of Mr Young’s past experience of insolvency that excluded the undisclosed information from which he was required to disclose for fair presentation of the risk. The insurer was accordingly entitled to avoid the policy.
It is hard to suggest that the case establishes any novel point with regard to “implied waiver” of the duty of disclosure on the part of the assured by the insurer. Although, this is a Scottish case, it is very much in line with the pre-Act English law authorities and essentially turns on the impression an insurer’s response to a disclosure might create on the mind of a reasonable assured. If it can be said that insurer’s answer amounts to an inquiry (judged from the perspective of a reasonable assured) there could be a possibility of arguing that the relevant assured could infer that the insurer had no interest in knowing information falling outside the scope of that inquiry. Otherwise, there will be no issue of waiver by asking “limiting questions”. The judgment is obviously not binding on English courts but one suspects that it is one that will be referred to not only because it is the first case under the IA 2015 but also as it relies on principles developed by English courts pre-dating the IA 2015 which obviously remain relevant at least in the context of establishing “waiver of disclosure” by the insurer.
