Alexander Rosenfield

The Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012 (CI(DR)A 2012) replaced the previous obligation on policyholders to volunteer information to insurers with a duty to take reasonable care not to make misrepresentations when responding to an insurer’s questions. This Practice Note outlines the background to the implementation of the CI(DR)A 2012 and provides an overview of its key provisions concerning consumer insurance and the duty of care relating to misrepresentation.

This Practice Note deals with the authorities on the meaning of ‘fraud’ and provides an overview of the key principles that apply to business insureds, both at inception of their insurance policies and during the claims process. It provides guidance on proving fraud, exaggerated claims, fraudulent devices and collateral lies together with guidance on fraudulent claims in the context of group policies, assignees of insurance policies and the position of co-insureds.

This Practice Note provides an overview of some of the most common types of insurance that are available, who might need them, and how they work.

Reinstatement in property insurance can be a difficult issue for a policyholder to navigate in the wake of a loss. The answers to what might seem like obvious questions such as: what is it? who does it? and, do the costs actually have to be incurred? are often far from straightforward, and have been the subject matter of disputes. This Practice Note summarises the key principles, including ’betterment’.

This Practice Note provides a detailed analysis of what underinsurance is, the principal causes, the remedies available to insurers where policyholders underinsure, and recent case law relevant to brokers’ duties.IntroductionUnderinsurance is one of the most persistent issues in UK property and business interruption (BI) insurance policies. The majority of policyholders insure for less than the full value of their assets and consequently expose themselves to substantial shortfalls should they need to make a claim.Despite its prevalence, there is very limited case law on underinsurance. Much of the legal framework derives from the Insurance Act 2015 (IA 2015), the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012 (CI(DR)A 2012), and older authorities on materiality and disclosure.For more information about IA 2015, see Practice Note: Insurance Act 2015 (IA 2015)—essentials and for more information about CI(DR)A 2012, see Practice Note: A guide to the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012.What is Underinsurance?DefinitionUnderinsurance occurs where the sum insured or declared value is insufficient to meet the actual loss following damage. This can occur