In Stonegate v MS Amlin Butcher J decided preliminary issues in a claim for COVID-related business interruption loss, reducing the quantum of Stonegate’s claim from over £1billion to a few million pounds. This talk will consider aggregation clauses in the light of that judgment. To put matters in context it will begin with a recap of the relevant findings from FCA v Arch and an overview of Butcher J’s findings as to what constitutes a covered event. Freddy will then look in depth at both the existing principles which Butcher J reiterated (how to approach the language of aggregation clauses and the relevance of ‘remoteness’) and the new principles he decided (as to the time at which, and the knowledge with which, aggregation is to be considered). To bring those principles to life, Freddy will consider their application to the facts of Stonegate and finish with an overview of the other matters decided by Butcher J (e.g. the treatment of furlough payments) in Stonegate and the related cases of Various Eateries v Allianz and Greggs v Zurich.
Ben Quiney KC and James Sharpe both of Crown Office Chambers will be joined by Robert Brown of Icen Risk to discuss the topic of M&A Warranty and Indemnity Cases and Insurance.
Ben Quiney KC of Crown Office Chambers
Ben advises upon and litigates all insurance related disputes, including: D&O, PI, PL & EL, product liability, and Warranty and Indemnity policy disputes; dealing with insolvent insureds and insurance companies; subrogated recovery claims (including disaster claims); all coverage issues (including non-disclosure, notification, moral hazard, and warranty cases); and issues of scope of cover, such as business interruption.
James Sharpe of Crown Office Chambers
James regularly acts for and advises insured’s, insurers and reinsurers in respect of the operation and effect of insurance and reinsurance policies. James has particular expertise in professional indemnity (PI); CAR; property damage; public, products and employers’ liability; business interruption (BI); directors & officers (D&O); and warranty and indemnity (W&I) policies. He also regularly acts on behalf of insurance brokers in defending professional negligence claims.
Robert Brown of Icen Risk
Rob is one of the most experienced and respected M&A underwriters in the market, having specialised in this area since 2000. He has over 25 years’ experience in the insurance industry, having started in financial lines in 1993 and ran the Latin American Financial Lines division of a global insurer. Subsequently Rob set up and led the M&A insurance division of a global insurer for many years before founding Icen. His transactional insurance underwriting experience spans most sectors and territories.
How big data and technology influence important aspects of society?
What are the processes and mechanisms through which big data and emerging technologies influence society?
Are these technologies harmful, disruptive, a tool for corporate profit or transformational?
In late 1968, a terrible fire in a former whisky bond in Glasgow killed 22 workers. The circumstances of their death led to the Private Member’s Bill that became the Employers’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969. The problem then, as now, was not that employers were routinely uninsured, but that underwriters had defences to claims brought under those policies. The 1969 Act (and associated Regulations) did little to regulate those defences. The private law of insurance endured. Despite the growth in regulatory controls under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (as amended) that position remains unchanged. Recent litigation has confirmed that even where the purchase of insurance is compulsory, the interests of third-party claimants are not considered in the application of regulatory controls. The much-vaunted Consumer Duty will not change this. The private law vision of liability insurance applies even in the regulatory space.
This talk will draw upon principles drawn from law & economics (‘polluter pays’) to consider the effects of the current approach and alternatives which would refocus the costs on those that generate the harm.
James Davey is Professor of Insurance & Commercial Law at the University of Bristol and Deputy President of BILA. He has taught and written on insurance law for more than 25 years. His aim is to persuade the world that insurance law is of fundamental importance and deserving of close study, using tools drawn from a range of disciplines (law, history, economics, sociology). He is co-author of Millers’ Marine War Risks.
Dr Caroline Bell is Head of Wordings and a member of the CUO Extended Leadership Team at QBE European Operations.
She is the author of a PhD thesis on the London Market Excess of Loss Spiral, and she has over 20 years’ experience working as a lawyer for the insurance industry, both in private practice and in-house, having advised policyholders, insurance and reinsurance companies, brokers and Lloyd’s syndicates on coverage, wordings and regulatory issues.
Caroline contributes articles to the specialised press and is a regular speaker at international conferences on insurance and reinsurance law. She sits on the Committee of the British Insurance Law Association and is a regular guest lecturer at King’s College, London.
This talk will explore insurance policy wordings in the London market; and how recent regulatory, legal and societal changes have impacted on the way wordings are created, used and interpreted.
It will consider both the legal and the practical aspects of insurance contracts, including how and why they are so different to other commercial contracts, how they are drafted and entered into, the contract as a ‘product’, rules of contract construction, the ‘hold harmless’ principle, digitalisation and whether insurance contracts are fit for the future.
Claims under Business Interruption insurance policies for Covid-19 related losses – where are we now? Recent decisions and unresolved issues approaching 2 years after the Supreme Court decision in the FCA test case.
This talk will address the decision of the Supreme Court in The Financial Conduct Authority v Arch Insurance (UK) Ltd and others [2021] UKSC 1 and Commercial Court judgments on Covid-19 BI cases since then including Corbin & King Limited & Others v AXA Insurance UK Plc [2022] EWHC 409 (Comm) and Stonegate Pub Company Limited v MS Amlin Corporate Member Limited & Ors [2022] EWHC 2548 (Comm), Greggs Plc v Zurich Insurance Plc [2022] EWHC 2545 (Comm) and Various Eateries Trading Limited v Allianz Insurance Plc [2022] EWHC 2549 (Comm), as well as outlining some unresolved issues.
Emma Hilliard is a barrister practising at 7 King’s Bench Walk in London and specialising in commercial litigation and arbitration with particular emphasis on insurance and reinsurance. Emma has experience of a wide range of insurance and reinsurance disputes in confidential arbitrations and in the Commercial Court acting as sole counsel, led by a KC and as part of a large team of counsel. Emma is recommended in Legal 500 (2023) in the fields of Insurance and Reinsurance, Aviation and Shipping, and has been described by solicitors as someone who “knows her subject inside out, is very diligent and understands the commercial context of any case”. Prior to being called to the Bar in 2006, Emma previously studied Commercial Insurance Law as a postgraduate at the University of Cambridge as part of her Commercial LLM (First Class, 2004-2005) and Emma supervised Contract Law at Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge (2005-2006).
Please note this event is now full. If you would like to be added to the waiting list, please complete the booking form or email office@bila.org.uk. Should a place become available we will let you know.
BILA YP is excited to announce its Winter Social Christmas Quiz with drinks, pizza, nibbles, and prizes
Please join us for a festive quiz to test your general knowledge (yes, there are prizes…) and enjoy drinks, pizza, and nibbles as well as an opportunity to network with young professionals from across the insurance market.
Timings: Start: 18.30 (registration from 18.15)
Location: CMS, Cannon Place, 78 Cannon Street, London, EC4N 6AF
This is a free event
Prior registration required
If you would like to attend as a team and reserve a table (up to 6 people per team), please email details to office@bila.org.uk by 5pm Tuesday 15 November. Otherwise, teams will be assigned on the evening.
Kindly sponsored by CMS
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US coverage disputes: what the London market needs to know
This event will take place on 3 November and will be an in-person event at The Old Library, Lloyd’s of London, One Lime Street, London EC3M 7HA. The mini conference will include a series of talks by leading US coverage lawyers and mediators, followed by a panel discussion, focused on what those who deal with or have an interest in US business need to know about coverage disputes in the US.
PANEL SESSION CHAIR
ARABELLA RAMAGE, Legal Director
Arabella Ramage joined the LMA in September 2021. Arabella is responsible for providing support on legal, wordings, regulatory and compliance issues to the Lloyd’s managing and members’ agency community. She will focus on legal issues impacting the Lloyd’s market including law reform and financial services regulation, as well as maintaining an overview of the UK and international legal and regulatory environment.
She joins us from AXA XL, where she was the general counsel for International Insurance and Reinsurance with responsibility for all legal support for insurance and reinsurance business across AXA XL’s international platforms and Lloyd’s syndicates. She has led a large team of lawyers and wordings specialists across 17 jurisdictions. Ramage has worked for AXA XL since 2000 and began her career at Ince & Co in 1990.
SPEAKERS
AMANDA BUCKLOW, mediator based in London
Amanda is a leading international mediator, professional negotiator and educator in the fields of dispute resolution and risk management. Before developing her mediation practice, Amanda spent 14 years in business negotiating contracts and building partnership agreements internationally. She has career-long experience of negotiating within regulated sectors and supporting organisations in meeting their obligations within a commercial context.
Clients and colleagues frequently remark on Amanda’s depth of knowledge, commercial flair, creative input and persistence in finding a successful outcome with a persuasive and pragmatic style. Amanda focuses on supporting people in making good decisions and is skilled at developing an environment where parties can do their best thinking. She has a prodigious capacity for absorbing complex information in a short time and crafting appropriate and incisive questions. A unique aspect of Amanda’s career is as a trusted ‘project resource’ building effective project teams with the appropriate risk management profile. Her expertise is in identifying risks and opportunities in an ever-changing commercial world. https://amandabucklow.co.uk
FRANK CORDELL, Partner at Gorden Tilden in Seattle
Frank Cordell has earned his reputation as one of the Pacific Northwest’s premier insurance recovery lawyers. His clients range from multi-national corporations to small businesses and individuals. He represents only policyholders–and his reputation within the insurance industry has led to many successful engagements representing insurers in reinsurance and E&O coverage disputes.
Frank is a Fellow of the American College of Coverage Counsel, a nationwide, invitation-only organization of preeminent insurance coverage counsel that includes both policyholder and insurer lawyers. Frank’s fellowship reflects his 31-year commitment to excellence in the field of insurance recovery. This includes vigorous and creative representation of insureds, promoting civility within the insurance coverage bar, and regularly writing and speaking on insurance topics. Frank’s writing includes serving as General Editor and chapter co-author of the LexisNexis publication Practice Guide: Washington Insurance Litigation.
JEFF KICHAVEN, Mediator based in Los Angeles
Jeff is one of the United States’ premier mediators of insurance coverage and bad faith cases. He has been “Ranked in Chambers” on the US list of top mediators for the past five years, and “Who’s Who Legal” lists him as a “Global Elite Thought Leader” in mediation, one of only six in the US and 28 in the world. He is Contributing Author of Chapter 25, “Considering Alternative Dispute Resolution,” in the New Appleman Insurance Practice Guide. He is a Phi Beta Kappa Graduate of the University of California, Berkeley (Economics, 1977) and an Honors Graduate of Harvard Law School (J.D. Cum Laude, 1980). He has been a full-time mediator in private practice since 1996. He is an Elected Member of the American Law Institute and has been named California Lawyer Attorney of the Year in ADR. “Best Lawyers” has listed him as one of the Best Mediation Lawyers in Los Angeles for over 15 straight years and honored him as the single Best Mediation Lawyer in Los Angeles in 2015. In 2010, the Asian Pacific American Dispute Resolution Center honored him with its Special Award for Excellence in Mediation. His views on mediation have been cited in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.
SETH D. LAMDEN, Partner in Blank Rome’s Chicago office (current Chair of the Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee of the Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section of the American Bar Association)
Seth is a partner in Blank Rome LLP’s Insurance Recovery Practice Group, resident in the firm’s Chicago office. He has spent his entire 20+ year legal career helping policyholders enforce rights to insurance coverage through negotiation and litigation. Seth is a Fellow of the American College of Coverage Counsel, where he serves on the Board of Regents and co-chairs the D&O Insurance Committee. He also serves as an Executive Editor of the International Risk Management Institute, Inc.’s Insurance Law Essentials. He is the immediate past chair of the Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee of the American Bar Association’s Tort, Trial & Insurance Practice Section, where he previously chaired the Self Insurers and Risk Managers Committee. Seth has written seven book chapters and dozens of articles on topics relating to insurance coverage, including: Duty to Defend, 3 New Appleman on Insurance Law Library Edition § 17; Product Liability Insurance, 3 New Appleman Law of Liability Insurance § 16; and Discovery, 12 New Appleman on Insurance Law Library Edition § 152. He maintains a Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent™ rating and is listed in the area of insurance coverage in Chambers USA, The Best Lawyers in America, Illinois Super Lawyers, and Leading Lawyers Network.
CHRIS MOSLEY, Partner in Foley Hoag’s Denver office (past Chair of the ICLC)
Working from Denver, Colorado, Chris Mosley is a partner in Foley Hoag’s Insurance Recovery practice. He specializes in representing corporate policyholders in disputes against their insurers. He also advises companies on various risk management issues, including the development of complex insurance programs and assistance in due diligence and other activities related to M&A and similar activity.
Throughout Chris’ career, he has helped businesses recover more than $150 million from insurance companies. His expertise extends to all types of commercial insurance policies in virtually all industries.
Chris is the former national Chair for the Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee of the American Bar Association’s Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section. Chris has also been selected as a Fellow in the American College of Coverage Counsel, where he serves as a board member. Chris has been selected Colorado’s Policyholder of the Year twice and honored as a Top 100 Colorado lawyer since 2016.
JASON REEVES, Managing Partner of the London office of Zelle, and a dual-qualified US / UK lawyer (licensed in Texas)
Jason is the managing partner of Zelle’s London office. He is an English solicitor and a licensed attorney in Texas, practicing in both England and the U.S. He represents international insurers and reinsurers, focusing on complex insurance and reinsurance disputes in the UK, U.S., Europe, Latin America, and other jurisdictions around the world.
Jason primarily handles coverage disputes in first- and third-party business lines involving energy, property, power, climate change, engineering, construction, and industrial risks that often include complicated business interruption issues. He is also routinely instructed on subrogation, monitoring, defense and in connection with policy wordings. Jason is external counsel to the Lloyd’s Market Association Joint Liability Committee.
Jason regularly lectures and writes on emerging topics and key insurance law issues.
PROGRAMME
1.30 pm Registration
2.00 pm 5 x 20-minute sessions as follows:
Jason Reeves – Resolving coverage disputes in the US and the UK: a procedural compare & contrast
Seth Lamden – Hot topics in US coverage disputes
Chris Mosley – Bad faith & social inflation
Amanda Bucklow and Jeff Kichaven – Similarities and differences in coverage mediations in the US and the UK
Frank Cordell – The Wild West: What makes Washington State so pro-insured, and what insurers can do about it
3.40 pm 20-minute break – Audience can submit questions for the moderator during the break
4.00 pm1 hour panel – “US coverage disputes: what the London market needs to know”
5.00 pm Q&A from the floor
5:30pm Finish
Venue This event will take place in person at The Old Library, Lloyd’s of London, One Lime Street, London, EC3M 7HA.
Attendees are invited to attend drinks afterwards at another venue in Lime Stret.
IMPORTANT
For admission to Lloyd’s, please make sure to bring along your Lloyd’s pass if you have one or else photo ID (driving licence, passport or work ID with company logo and full name).
BOOKING FOR THIS EVENT IS NOW CLOSED
Özlem Gürses is Professor of Commercial Law at King’s College London. Her research focus is all aspects of insurance and reinsurance law. Özlem sits in the British Insurance Law Association Committee and the Presidential Council of the International Insurance Law Association (AIDA).
This lecture will consider key developments in insurance during the past twelve months. The topics to be covered will include actual and constructive total loss, breach of warranties and conditions under the Insurance Act 2015, the duty of fair presentation of the risk, damages for late payment, insurable interest, subrogation immunity in con-insurance, sue and labour, business interruption insurance, employers’ liability insurance and anti-suit injunctions.
This lecture will be preceded by the award of the BILA Book Prize and then followed by the Annual General Meeting (Members Only)
Venue This event will take place in person at The Old Library, Lloyd’s of London, One Lime Street, London, EC3M 7HA.
IMPORTANT
For admittance to Lloyd’s, please make sure to bring along your Lloyd’s pass if you have one or else photo ID (driving licence, passport or work ID with company logo and full name).
This event will be recorded for the benefit of our members.
BOOKING FOR THIS EVENT IS NOW CLOSED
Doing the right thing: Can insurance law respond to future social, ethical, and environmental challenges?
This event will take place on the 11th October 2022 and be held at The Old Library, Lloyd’s of London, One Lime Street, London, EC3M 7HA
Time: 3.30 -5.30 pm
To be followed by drinks
To celebrate BILA’s first in-person event the conference and drinks are being offered at no charge to attendees.
Programme
The event will consist of two panel discussions
Panel 1: Translating climate and environmental aspirations into insurance reality
Chaired by Dr Franziska Arnold-Dwyer, Director of the Insurance, Shipping and Aviation Law Institute at Queen Mary University of London
Dr Franziska Arnold-Dwyer is a Senior Lecturer and the Director of the Insurance, Shipping and Aviation Law Institute at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies at Queen Mary University of London. Prior to returning to Academia, Franziska practised law in the Insurance Litigation Group at Clifford Chance LLP. Franziska is the author of ‘Insurable Interest and the Law’ and one of the executive editors of O’Neill and Woloniecki’s ‘The Law of Reinsurance in England and Bermuda’. She has published several papers on insurance law and is contributing author to LexisNexis and Westlaw on insurance law. She is the deputy editor of the BILA Journal, regularly speaks at insurance law and industry events and is a member of the PRICL Drafting Committee. She assisted the Law Commission and the Scottish Law Commission with their insurable interest reform project.
Topics include:
- Net zero insurance products
- Tools available to encourage good ESG behaviours
- Supporting a sustainable energy transition
- Greenwashing
- Reputational risk and insurance
Panel 2: Insurability and other ethical and legal issues involved in the availability of insurance.
Chaired by Peter MacDonald Eggers KC
Peter MacDonald Eggers KC is the current Chair of BILA and has practised as a commercial barrister at 7KBW since 2000. Peter specialises in all aspects of commercial law, with a particular focus on insurance and reinsurance, shipping and transport, energy, commodities and international trade, financial services, professional negligence, and international investment projects. Peter appears before the Commercial Court, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court and in commercial and international arbitrations. Peter has also appeared before Courts in other jurisdictions.
In 2017, Peter MacDonald Eggers KC was appointed by the Lord Chief Justice as a Deputy High Court Judge, assigned to the King’s Bench Division.
Topics include
- Insurability of fines and penalties
- Ransoms
- Sanctions
- Artificial intelligence, automation and insurance cover
Panel speakers:
Dr Juan Duan, Head of Financial Climate Risk, Beazley Group
Juan Duan is Head of Financial Climate Risk at Beazley. Juan provides strategic leadership on financial climate risk at Beazley, responsible for embedding climate risk into underwriting, coordinating climate risk initiatives across business functions, and strengthening technical capabilities on managing climate risk.
Juan worked at the Bank of England for over five years where she held a number of senior catastrophe and climate risk roles. Prior to the Bank of England, she was a Research Associate at AIR Worldwide (now Verisk). She holds a PhD in hydrology and climate change from Imperial College London.
Ryan Bond, Head of Climate and Sustainability Insurance and Innovation, Marsh
With more than 20 years’ insurance industry experience, Ryan is responsible for leading the global development of insurance solutions that support Marsh’s clients through the climate transition and help them achieve their commitments around sustainability and climate change
Prior to his current role, he was most recently Chief Executive, UK and Ireland, of Bowring Marsh, Marsh’s international placement business. Mr. Bond is a board member of the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) and is also Chair of BIBA’s International & Wholesale Advisory Board.
Nigel Brook is a partner at international law firm Clyde & Co, where he specialises in reinsurance. He is founder and co-lead of the firm’s global Resilience and Climate Risk practice and advises and presents on climate change issues including duties of care, liability and governance.
Professor Özlem Gürses, King’s College London, School of Law
Özlem Gürses is Professor of Commercial Law at King’s College London. Her research focus is all aspects of insurance and reinsurance law. Özlem sits in the British Insurance Law Association Committee and the Presidential Council of the International Insurance Law Association (AIDA).
Greig Anderson, Partner, Herbert Smith Freehills
Greig is a partner in the Insurance & Professional Risks team at Herbert Smith Freehills. He has a broad experience of acting for policyholders, brokers, insurers and reinsurers on insurance coverage disputes under all classes of insurance and across all sectors. He has particular expertise in advising clients on insurance claims arising from cyber incidents and in the context of crisis management. He has acted on some of the largest and most complex claims in the market, including recently acting for the FCA in its ground-breaking successful claim in relation to coverage for business interruption losses arising from COVID-19. Greig is a ranked in Chambers UK 2022 (UK-wide Insurance: Mainly Policyholders) and Legal 500 UK 2023 (as a Next Generation Partner) for both insurance litigation (for policyholders) and insurance and reinsurance litigation.
Richard Neylon, Partner, Head of Complex Environments, HFW
Richard is a partner in the London office of the international law firm HFW. He heads the firm’s global Complex Environments team (www.hfw.com/Complex-Environments).
He specializes in resolving major incidents and disputes for marine, property, liability, war, kidnap & ransom and special risks underwriters and their assureds.
He has particular expertise in managing and resolving incidents in complex and hostile environments. He has played a central role in coordinating and resolving over 150 hijacking, kidnapping, extortion and detention cases worldwide over the last 15 years, dealing with the initial incident through to managing the recovery and post-recovery phases. He has helped secure the release of over 1,800 hostages. He also regularly deals with unlawful detentions, drug seizures, fraud and similar complex problems that companies which operate globally can become exposed to.
Richard is also a recognised specialist in handling major marine casualties. He is often involved when trouble flares up for the shipping industry. He has handled the majority of piracy/hijacking cases off East and West Africa. He is now heavily engaged dealing with the complexities arising from the conflict in Ukraine – where he acts for the war insurers of 17 vessels that were stranded in Ukrainian ports when war broke out.
Sushma Ananda, Barrister, 7 King’s Bench Walk
Sushma has a broad commercial practice with a particular emphasis on insurance and reinsurance, professional negligence, shipping and international trade, and international arbitration.
Sushma has been instructed in a wide variety of commercial disputes both as sole counsel and as a junior. Sushma has appeared in the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, Commercial Court, county courts and in many international arbitrations (including LMAA, LCIA, ICC, ARIAS, SIAC and Bermuda Form arbitrations). She has undertaken advocacy on her own in many of these forums, including successfully appearing against counsel more senior than her. Sushma also often works as part of a wider counsel team in complex commercial disputes leading to lengthy trials.
Sushma’s highlighted cases include the 2020 COVID-19 business interruption test case (at first instance and in the Supreme Court) brought by the FCA against eight insurers, including Ecclesiastical Insurance Office plc and MS Amlin Underwriting Ltd (Sushma’s clients); the recent Stonegate Pub Company v MS Amlin and others (2022) litigation which is expected to decide a number of the most important COVID-19 business interruption issues left undecided by the test case; Ferster v Ferster [2016] EWCA Civ 717, a case concerned with the unambiguous impropriety exception to without prejudice privilege; and Involnert Management v Aprilgrange Limited [2015] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 289, a multi-million euro professional negligence claim in the Commercial Court concerned with the insurance of a super yacht.
Sushma was called to the Singapore Bar in February 2015. She is ranked in Chambers & Partners in Insurance & Reinsurance and the Legal 500 in Insurance & Reinsurance, International Arbitration, Professional Negligence, Shipping and Commodities. In October 2010 Sushma was cited by Legal Week as one of the “Stars at the Bar”.
Sushma also accepts arbitration appointments. She has acted as an arbitrator appointed by the LCIA Court. She is also on the panel of arbitrators for the Lloyd’s Arbitration Scheme, Tiers 1 and 2.
She is also a Non-Executive Director of the Bar Mutual.
IMPORTANT
For admittance to Lloyd’s, please make sure to bring along your Lloyd’s pass if you have one or else photo ID (driving licence, passport or work ID with company logo and full name).
BOOKING HAS NOW CLOSED FOR THIS EVENT, IF YOU HAVE BOOKED YOU WILL RECEIVE DETAILS SHORTLY