UK COURT OF APPEALS DISMISSES REINSURER’S APPEAL OF DECISION FINDING CREATION OF REINSURANCE CONTRACT PRIOR TO CASUALTY
We previously posted on November 12, 2008 about a British court’s decision holding that a reinsurance contract was created prior to a putatively covered ocean-going casualty, based on certain written exchanges between the parties reflecting their negotiations. The reinsurer, Aigaion Insurance Company S.A. (“Aigaion”), appealed, arguing that the lower court’s decision was unclear, and that even if a contract had been formed, it contained a warranty provision allowing the policy to lapse without notice in the case of non-payment of premium (the parties did not dispute that the reinsured, Allianz Insurance Company of Egypt, forwarded timely premium payment to an intermediary broker, who failed to then forward payment to Aigaion).
The Court of Appeals disagreed with Aigaion, finding no basis for its appeal, which it dismissed. The Court found that whether or not the parties negotiated the warranty provision Aigaion sought, it was nonetheless not explicitly included in the terms of the agreement that the lower court had found the parties made by a date certain which, at the latest, preceded the casualty. Allianz Insurance Company of Egypt v. Aigaion Insurance Company, S.A. [2008] EWCA Civ 1455 (Court of Appeals, Civ. Div. Dec. 19, 2008).
This post written by John Pitblado.
