Date / time
01/05/2014
1:00 pm

Speakers:

Crossley Gates (DLA Phillips Fox – a group firm within DLA Piper) was recently ranked as a leading individual insurance lawyer by Chamber Asia Pacific Guide 2014. He has specialised in insurance law for most of his career. He was General Counsel for a major New Zealand insurance company for 18 years before joining DLA Phillips Fox in 2002. Putting his many years of claims experience to good use, he drafted all of that insurance company’s policy wordings. Policy drafting now makes up a large part of his practice at DLA Phillips Fox. Through local underwriting agencies he acts for a number of Lloyd’s syndicates, as well as local insurers. He currently has two earthquake cases before the New Zealand courts. He has also recently run a successful arson/fraud defence for a Lloyd’s syndicate. He acts for a number of the New Zealand insurance industry bodies and he is on the committee of the New Zealand Insurance Law Association.

John Larkin (one of Ireland’s leading corporate law firms – www.williamfry.ie): John is Head of William Fry’s Insurance Department.  He advises insurance and reinsurance companies, as well as intermediaries, on all aspects of their business including M&A transactions, portfolio transfers, restructurings, contractual negotiations and regulatory matters. He also has extensive experience in helping insurance and reinsurance companies obtain authorisation from the Central Bank of Ireland  and on passporting into other EEA markets.
John is also Senior Vice Chairman of the IBA’s Insurance Regulation Sub-Committee.

Synopses:

New Zealand: The Christchurch earthquakes created complex insurance claims raising novel coverage issues for which there is little common law precedent. Many cases have come before the High Court. Some are awaiting hearings before the Court of Appeal and one is before the Supreme Court of New Zealand. It has to determine whether the principle of merger of damage where a partial loss is followed by a total loss in the same policy period applies outside marine insurance. Underinsurance has led to claimants arguing every possible point. Poor policy drafting is behind many of the disputes. In this presentation, Crossley will summarise these coverage issues, the decisions that the Courts have reached and the lessens to be learned.

Ireland: Although it has it’s deepest roots in the London insurance market, Dublin has evolved as a significant insurance centre with many international companies that are based there availing of passporting rights under the (Re)insurance Directives to transact business through the EEA. It has faced its challenges during the financial crisis and has responded with a stricter regulatory landscape. In his presentation John will talk about the new regulatory framework and the Central Bank of Ireland’s regulatory philosophy, particularly the Central Bank Reform Act, 2010 and the Central Bank (Supervision and Enforcement) Act 2013. He will also provide an overview of activity in the (re)insurance market in Ireland.

NOTE THE DIFFERENT VENUE [Venue location map]