Description

On 12 August 2016 English law will make its most dramatic change in over a 100 years to the way that commercial insurance is placed. The Insurance Act 2015 (applicable to commercial contracts of insurance made after 12 August 2016) deletes more than three sections of the Marine Insurance Act 1906 dealing with non-disclosure and misrepresentation and introduces a new regime applicable to all non-consumer contracts of insurance such as marine, aviation, construction and other commercial insurance contracts.

Assureds are now required at the time of placing to make a “fair presentation” of the risk insured. Insurers are now required to be more active in the placing process. Whist a contract of insurance remains a contract of the utmost good faith, a failure to observe this no longer necessarily allows the underwriter to avoid the contract. The remedies for a failure by the assured to make a fair presentation now vary according to the assured’s state of mind.

This seminar will provide a detailed analysis of these new provisions, the duties upon assureds and their brokers as well as those on underwriters, and the new remedies available.

About The Speaker

Dr Steven Hazelwood was a partner in a leading City shipping and insurance law firm, serving in their London, Hong Kong and Singapore offices where he was Senior Resident Partner. Specializing in complex insurance and marine casualties, he has handled cases in the highest courts such as the Court of Appeal and House of Lords and international arbitrations in London and New York. He has taught law at various universities, in England and around the world, and has been an examiner to the Bar Council of England & Wales and to the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers.

A former Consultant to the Shipping Division of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Geneva, he has also spoken at numerous international conferences and seminars. He has published many articles on shipping law and marine insurance. Dr Hazelwood is the author of P & I Clubs: Law & Practice 3rd ed (LLP, 2000) and one of the general editors of Marsden and Gault’s Collisions at Sea 14thed (Sweet & Maxwell, 2016).

Who Should Attend

Lawyers, in-house counsel, legal officers, insurers, brokers and business people who insure their commercial interests such as traders, banks and financial institutions.