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ARTICLE · 28 SEPTEMBER 2013

'Claims made' policies held by deregistered companies

Clayton Utz
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The fact that a deregistered company's policy was "claims made" did not prevent a direct claim against the insurer.

AustraliaInsurance
Mark Waller
Mark Waller
Fred Hawke
Fred Hawke
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Key Points:

Although the Court allowed a direct claim in this case, it might be less willing to subject an insurer to direct action under section 601AG where there was no claim, no notification and no deeming clause.

The fact that a deregistered company's policy was "claims made" did not prevent a direct claim against the insurer under section 601AG (Sciacca v Langshaw Valuations Pty Ltd [2013] NSWSC 1285).

Background

IMP had a claims made PI policy with Vero. IMP was deregistered in 2009. In 2011, a former client of IMP alleged that IMP had, before being deregistered, caused it loss. Because IMP had now been deregistered, the client applied under section 601AG to recover that loss directly from Vero, under the policy.

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