Description

About the Seminar

In this talk, Professor Özlem Gürses will discuss the meaning of ‘proximate’ under the MIA 1906 s 55(1) (which is not confined to marine insurance). The talk will explore the adoption of the word ‘proximate’ by the pre-MIA 1906 cases which then led to the codification of the term under s 55(1) of the Act. It will discuss if the proximate cause rule has ever been the ‘last cause in time’ or whether its determination has always been a matter of construction of the way the loss has occurred and the policy terms. The talk will further explore what distinguishes the ‘but for’ test and ‘the proximate cause’, and the separation between ‘concurrent independent’ and ‘concurrent interdependent causes’. The talk will conclude on the two matters: (1) is the word ‘proximate’ misleading and (2) is the so-called ‘concurrent causes’ formula a theoretical analysis which finds little practical application in the authorities?

About the Speaker

Özlem Gürses is Professor of Commercial Law at King’s College London. She specialises in insurance and reinsurance law. Özlem is the author of Reinsuring Clauses (Informa), Marine Insurance Law (Routledge), Insurance of Commercial Risks (Sweet and Maxwell), and The Compulsory Motor Vehicle Insurance (Informa) as well as many articles on insurance and reinsurance related topics. Özlem sits on the British Insurance Law Association Committee and the Presidential Council of the International Insurance Law Association (AIDA). She is Vice-Chair of the Reinsurance Working Party of AIDA. Özlem teaches insurance and reinsurance law at King’s College London and abroad, including the National University of Singapore, the University of Hamburg, and the World Maritime University, Malmö.