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England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) Decisions |
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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) Decisions >> George Hunt Cranes Ltd v Scottish Boiler & General Insurance Co Ltd [2001] EWCA Civ 1964 (3 December 2001) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2001/1964.html Cite as: [2003] 1 CLC 1, [2002] Lloyd's Rep IR 178, [2001] EWCA Civ 1964, [2002] 1 All ER (Comm) 366 |
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COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
MANCHESTER DISTRICT REGISTRY
(His Honour Judge Hegarty QC)
Strand London WC2 Monday, 3rd December 2001 |
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B e f o r e :
MR. JUSTICE MORLAND
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GEORGE HUNT CRANES LIMITED | Appellant | |
- v - | ||
SCOTTISH BOILER AND GENERAL INSURANCE CO LTD |
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of Smith Bernal Reporting Limited
190 Fleet Street, London EC4A 2AG
Telephone No: 0207-421 4040
Fax No: 0207-831 8838
Official Shorthand Writers to the Court)
MR. A. GRANTHAM (instructed by Messrs Elliotts, Manchester) appeared on behalf of the Respondent/Defendant.
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Crown Copyright ©
"No claim under this policy shall be payable unless the terms of this condition have been complied with."
"The plain wording of this provision. . . imposes a requirement which must be strictly complied with if any claim is to be paid and. . . since no claim has been submitted within 30 days or within any additional time allowed by the company there has not been compliance and therefore the defendants are entitled to rely upon the policy condition."
"This Policy and the Schedule shall be read together as one contract. Unless otherwise stated any word or expression to which a specific meaning has been attached shall bear the same meaning wherever it may appear."
"Action by the Insured
(a) on the happening of any loss or destruction or damage or any accident or injury which may give rise to a claim the Insured shall give immediate notice thereof in writing to the Company.
(b) in respect of loss or destruction or damage caused by malicious persons or by theft it is a condition precedent to any claim that immediate notice of the loss or destruction or damage shall have been given by the Insured to the police authority.
(c) the Insured shall within 30 days after such loss, destruction or damage, accident or injury (7 days in the case of loss, destruction or damage caused by riot, civil commotion, strikers, locked out workers or persons taking part in labour disturbances or malicious persons) or such further time as the Company may in writing allow at the expense of the Insured, deliver to the Company a claim in writing containing as particular an account as may be reasonably practicable of the accident injury or any portions of the Plant lost, destroyed or damaged and of the amount of damage thereto together with details of any other insurances on any Plant or property hereby insured. The Insured shall also give to the company all such proofs and information in respect of the claim as may reasonably be required together with (if demanded) a statutory declaration of the truth of the claim and of any matters connected therewith. No claim under this policy shall be payable unless the terms of this condition have been complied with.
(d) the Insured shall send to the Company immediately on receipt any letter, writ, summons or other legal process issued or commenced.
(e) the Insured shall not negotiate pay, settle, admit or repudiate any claim without the written consent of the Company."
"It is not always easy to decide whether clauses requiring notice of a claim are conditions precedent to the liability of the insurer under the policy, or merely terms of the policy for breach of which the insurer's only remedy is to claim damages for the extra expense flowing from the insured's failure to give notice within the proper time. Little more can be said than that it is a matter of construing the policy as a whole."
"Such clauses should not be treated as a mere formality which is to be evaded at the cost of a false and unnatural construction of the words used in the policy, but should be construed fairly to give effect to the object for which they were inserted, but at the same time so as to protect the assured from being trapped by obscure or ambiguous phraseology."
"If that be the proper construction - and I see no reason why the ordinary implication of a reasonable time should not have effect with regard to this clause in the contract - what had to be done was that the claimant should give the information which was demanded of him within a reasonable time. What was to be the result if that condition were not fulfilled?The policy says the result will be that 'no claim under this policy shall be payable', not 'unless and until' but 'unless the terms of this condition have been complied with.' That means that, if the condition has not been complied with, no claim under the policy shall be paid. If that is the true construction, the result is that this claimant, having failed within a reasonable time - for it must be a failure not to have done it before the arbitration commenced - to comply with the condition, has lost his right to make his claim under this policy."