Understanding English Insurance Contracts - An Introduction to Interpretation, Warranties & Exclusions

Introduction

As disputes over business interruption insurance cover following the COVID-19 pandemic have illustrated, insurance contracts do not always respond in the way in which the parties expected.

Insureds can find themselves without crucial protection while insurers may find themselves covering risks that they did not intend to insure.

In order to avoid these surprises, it is important to be aware of the particular rules that govern the interpretation of insurance agreements.

What You Will Learn

This webinar will cover the following:

• The fundamental rules for the construction of insurance contracts as explained in the landmark 2021 decision: Financial Conduct Authority v. Arch
• The approach to resolving conflicting contractual terms
• How to understand policy exclusions and the factors which will influence their interpretation and how ambiguities will be resolved
• How contracts may be interpreted differently depending on the nature of the insured and the circumstances of the contract
• The importance of contractual warranties, including how a breach of warranty may lead to the suspension or cancellation of cover and how insurers may still be liable for losses where the insured is in breach of a warranty
• Recognising conditions precedent to liability and how breach of a condition precedent can mean that insurers are entitled to reject claims in their entirety
• Contracting out of the normal rules under the Insurance Act 2015

This webinar was recorded on 16th September 2021