Today HHJ Kelly sitting in the High Court in Leeds handed down judgment on Scotbeef Ltd v D&S Storage Ltd & Lonham Group Ltd [2024] EWHC 341 (TCC), which is only the third published decision on the novel provisions of the Insurance Act 2015 removing the previous duty of good faith in insurance contracts. Andrew Brown successfully argued that Scotbeef could claim against Lonham under the Third Party (Rights Against Insurers) Act 2010 in respect to the insurance policy between it and D&S Storage, and relied upon the provisions of the Insurance Act 2015. Andrew successfully argued that provisions within the insurance policy voiding cover upon misrepresentations as to the trading terms used by D&S Storage were in breach of the transparency requirements under Part 5 of the 2015 Act. Further that as the misrepresentations as to trading terms were innocent  the Court could hold that Lonham must indemnify D&S without amendment to the terms of the insurance contract under Schedule 1 of 2015 Act. Andrew previously was successful for Scotbeef in a preliminary trial in Scotbeef Ltd v D&S Storage [2022] EWHC 2434 (TCC) concerning incorporation of contractual terms. Andrew was instructed by Laurence Weeks and Chloe Bird of Birketts.

Read the High Court’s judgment here.