Extent of The Right of Subrogation in Insurance Law  

Sompo Insurance Singapore Pte Ltd v. Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Plc [2021] SGGC 152

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Singapore Marine Insurance Act 1994 (which is based on English Marine Insurance Act 1906) s. 79(1) stipulates (emphasis added):

Where the insurer pays for a total loss, either of the whole, or in the case of goods of any apportionable part, of the subject-matter insured, he thereupon becomes entitled to take over the interest of the assured in whatever may remain of the subject-matter so paid for, and he is thereby subrogated to all the rights and remedies of the assured in and in respect of that subject-matter as from the time of the casualty causing the loss.

The question in this case was: “does an insurer’s right of subrogation extend to the right to call upon a performance bond issued to the assured?”  

The facts can be summarised as follows: In December 2013, the Government of Singapore entered into a contract with Geometra for the transport of military cargo. It was a condition under the contract that Geometra would provide an unconditional performance bond for 5 % of the contract price. This was satisfied by Sompo issuing a bond in favour of the Government.

The Singapore Government also purchased an insurance policy from RSA with regard to this shipment against the risk of loss or damage to cargo. When the cargo was damaged during transport the Government sought and obtained indemnity for the loss from RSA, which then commenced a subrogated recovery action under s. 79(1) of the Act and called on the performance bond issued by Sompo. To this end, RSA’s lawyers wrote to Sampo and made a demand on the bond “on behalf of the Government of Singapore”. Sampo refused the call and the matter was then litigated. In the District Court, RSA secured a judgment in its favour. Sampo appealed the decision to the High Court.

One of the arguments put forward by Sompo was that the bond had ultimately expired as it was not called upon by the Singapore Government. This point was easily disposed by the High Court on the ground that the letter of the RSA’s lawyers was in effect written “on behalf of Singapore Government” as they acquired the right to wear the shoes of the assured, in this case the Government, pursuant to their right of subrogation.

The main discussion was whether the insurer’s right of subrogation extended to the right to call on the performance bond.  The High Court had no doubt that it did. Philip Jeyaretnam JC confirmed that the common law principle of subrogation grants an insurer the entitlement to every right the assured has to recover in respect of a loss including the right to call on a performance bond.    

The judgment is not only in line with the wording and ethos behind s. 79(1), but is in accord with the case law on the subject especially Castellian v. Preston (1883) 11 QBD 380; London Assurance Corp. v. Williams (1892) 9 TLR 96 and more recently England v. Guardian Insurance Ltd [2000] Lloyd’s Rep IR 409. Moreover, it would have been incongruous to hold that insurers are entitled to pursue subrogated recoveries against the person responsible for the loss but not use all rights and remedies that the assured would be able to pursue for recovery including calling on performance bonds. It is very likely that a similar judgment would have been delivered, had the case been litigated in England & Wales.

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Professor Barış Soyer

Professor Soyer was appointed a lecturer at the School of Law, Swansea University in 2001 and was promoted to readership in 2006 and professorship in 2009. He was appointed Director of the Institute of Shipping and Trade Law at the School of Law, Swansea in October 2010. He was previously a lecturer at the University of Exeter. His postgraduate education was in the University of Southampton from where he obtained his Ph.D degree in 2000. Whilst at Southampton he was also a part-time lecturer and tutor. His principal research interest is in the field of insurance, particularly marine insurance, but his interests extend broadly throughout maritime law and contract law. He is the author of Warranties in Marine Insurance published by Cavendish Publishing (2001), and an impressive list of articles published in elite Journals such as Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly, Berkley Journal of International Law, Journal of Contract Law and Journal of Business Law. His first book was the joint winner of the Cavendish Book Prize 2001 and was awarded the British Insurance Law Association Charitable Trust Book Prize in 2002, for the best contribution to insurance literature. A new edition of this book was published in 2006. In 2008, he edited a collection of essays published by Informa evaluating the Law Commissions' Reform Proposals in Insurance Law: Reforming Commercial and Marine Insurance Law. This book has been cited on numerous occasions in the Consultation Reports published by English and Scottish Law Commissions and also by the Irish Law Reform Commission and has been instrumental in shaping the nature of law reform. In recent years, he edited several books in partnership with Professor Tettenborn: Pollution at Sea: Law and Liability, published by Informa in 2012; Carriage of Goods by Sea, Land and Air, published by Informa in 2013 and Offshore Contracts and Liabilities, published by Informa Law from Routledge in 2014. His most recent monograph, Marine Insurance Fraud, was published in 2014 by Informa Law from Routledge. His teaching experience extends to the under- and postgraduate levels, including postgraduate teaching of Carriage of Goods by Sea, Transnational Commercial Law, Marine Insurance, Admiralty Law and Oil and Gas Law. He is one of the editors of the Journal of International Maritime Law and is also on the editorial board of Shipping and Trade Law and Baltic Maritime Law Quarterly. He currently teaches Admiralty Law, Oil and Gas Law and Marine Insurance on the LLM programme and also is the Head of the Department of Postgraduate Legal Studies at Swansea.

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