Chapter 2: Basic Insurance legal principles and terminology Flashcards
Insurance Contract
- Insurer agrees to pay insured a sum of money / provide service of monetary value when a claim is submitted
- Insured pays agreed premium and abides by t+cs
Criteria for an enforceable contract
- Offer and acceptance
- Due consideration
Important elements of a contract
- Deliberate intention to form legal agreement
- Possible
- Capable (Under 18s/disabled)
- Consensus ad idem
- Legality
- Certainty (clear terms)
Void ab initio
- Void from the beginning
Offer and Acceptance
Contract exists when an offer is unconditionally accepted
Unconditional acceptance
Final acceptance
Conditional acceptance
Counter offer where new terms are introduced
Postal acceptance
- If post is an accepted method of communication, acceptance is considered when the letter is first posted
Consideration
- Each persons side of the bargain which supports the contract
- Insured = premium
- Insurer = promise to pay claims
Insurable interest
- Legal right to insure something built on the financial relationship recognised by law
- Between the insured and the subject of the insurance
Features of insurable interest
- Subject matter of the insurance (what is being insured)
- Subject matter of the contract (relationship between insured and item)
Legal relationship
relationship between insured and subject of insurance must be recognised in law
Insurer’s Insurable interest
Allows them to purchase reinsurance to protect them from risks
Common law insurable interest
- Owe duties to one another
Statutes which modify insurable interest
- Impose a positive duty
- Some statutes restrict liability and therefore restrict the financial value of the insurable interest
Principle of good faith in pre-contract negotiations
- Applies to both proposer (insured) and insurer
- Must be open and transparent sharing key information
Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representation) Act 2012
- Consumer have a duty of care not to misrepresent themselves to insurer
- Insurer will have to show they would not have entered into the contract with correct representation
- Innocent misrepresentation does not count
ICOBS
Insurance: Conduct of Business Requirements
Section 3 of the Insurance Act
- Insured must make fair representation
- Insured cannot data dump
- Insurer has the burden to ask follow up if the presentation invites it
- Sets out the scope of the insureds actual knowledge (including matters known by senior management)
Fair representation
Disclosure of all material information that an insured knows or ought to know
Materiality of physical hazard
Information about construction of a people or devices installed
Materiality of a Moral hazard
Past convictions, previously declined insurance
Insurance Act section 4
- what the insured ought to know
- Reasonable search of information available to the insured (larger an organisation the larger the internal request will be)
Insurance Act section 6
- Information the insured suspects but deliberately refrains from including will be included as what they know
Information that does not need to be disclosed in negotiations
- Matters of law
- Public knowledge (state of war, natural disasters, industry processed)
- Factors that lessen the risk
- Information waived by insurer (not included on a survey or followed up on)
- Information that a survey should have revealed (not on the insured if the they didnt know to disclose)
Information the insured doesnt know (was it material/reasonable)
Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 / LAPSO 2012
- Legal aid, sentencing and punishment of offenders act
- Certain offences will be treated as if they never happened after a differing time scale
When would an insurer ought to know something
- If it is known by the employee/agent of the insurer
- If it is held somewhere within the organisation that the decision maker would have access to
What is an insurer presumed to know
- Common Knowledge
- Anything insurers in that class of business would be expected to know
Role of broker IRO disclosure
- No expressed duty of disclosure
Duty of fair representation
- Was the breach reckless or deliberate
- Did the breach take place during the original placement of the risk
Options if a breach of representation occured during the original placement
- Policy can be Void ab initio if RECKLESS -> insurer can retain premium
- NOT RECKLESS but would NOT have entered, void contract and return premium
- NOT RECKLESS but would have entered on DIFFERENT terms (higher premium) the contract will be on those terms and any additional premium will instead be taken off claims
Variation in contract
- changes can take place at any point after original placement
- Same rules of misrepresentation apply
Contracting out - Insurance Act 2015
- Insurer and insured might agree that the provisions in IA15 dont need to apply
- Burden on insurer to be very transparent on the impact of it
Road Traffic Act 1988
- Prohibits insurer from avoiding liability because of certain breaches
- Innocent victims should always be adequately compensated