Specialist contract law principles govern insurance contracts. Moreover, the actors involved in the insurance arrangements may be subject to tort law liabilities. Often, the question becomes how general principles are fed into the insurance context. Notably, the English courts have considered such matters in two of their recent decisions, which subsequently inspired an idea for a half-day conference.

Norman Hay Plc v Marsh Ltd [2024] EWHC (upheld by the Court of Appeal [2025] EWCA Civ 58) discussed insurance brokers’ liabilities to their clients for breach of their duty of care and whether the correct test to assess damages was the loss of chance or the balance of probabilities. Picken J distinguished a previous authority, Dalamd Ltd v Butterworth Spengler Commercial Ltd [2018] EWHC 2558 (Comm), on the basis that whilst in the Dalamd case, the risk had been insured, no insurance cover was in place in Norman Hay. The Court of Appeal found it sufficient to refer to the leading decision of the court in Fraser v B.N. Furman (Productions) Ltd [1967] 1 WLR 898.

In insurance of layers, a recovery from the third party is allocated on a top down basis. The courts had not discussed, until Royal and Sun Alliance Insurance PLC v Textainer Group Holdings Ltd [2024] EWCA Civ 547 how such a recovery is to be assigned amongst the excess of loss insurers and the assured where the latter’s loss exceeded the indemnity provided by the insurers. The Court of Appeal decided that, in such cases, the assured loss, which exceeded the indemnity available under the insurance scheme, was to be regarded as another layer added on top of the excess of loss insurance.

This half-day event will bring some insurance and tort law experts to discuss the impact of the abovementioned cases to insurance law and practice.

Agenda

12:45–13:00 Registration and coffee

Session 1: Insurance brokers: duties and liabilities

Chair: Christian Armbruester

• 13:00–13:25: “Norman Hay’ or ‘Dalamd’ : How to calculate damages for insurance broker’s negligence” LAU Kwan Ho Singapore Management University and Professor Ozlem Gurses – King’s College London
• 13:25–13 :50: Insurance/reinsurance brokers - from the market perspective. Dr Caroline Bell, QBE Europe & Ms Isidora Alemparte, Price Forbes RE
• 13:50–14 :15: “Impact/relevance of financial services regulatory regime” Professor Eva Lomnicka – King’s College London
• 14:15–14:40- “Tech and Insurance- The Legal Position of Insurance Brokers” Professor Baris Soyer –Institute of International Shipping and Trade Law, Swansea University
• 14:40–15:00: Q&A

15:10–15:30 Coffee

Session 2: Insurers’ subrogation considered and re-considered

Chair: Baris Soyer

• 15 :30–15:55 : “The Top-Down Principle: does it apply to all recoveries?” Peter MacDonald Eggers KC - 7KBW
• 15:55–16:20 “Is the assured’s enrichment unjust in the Textainer case?” -: Professor Andrew Tettenborn – Institute of International Shipping and Trade Law, Swansea University
• 16:20–16:45 : "Insurer's subrogation - contractual and statutory provisions from a German perspective" Professor Christian Armbruester Freie University Berlin
• 16:45–17:05 Q&A

17:05–17:45 Drinks reception