Introduction
The recent Federal Court of Australia judgment in Swashplate Pty Ltd v Liberty Mutual Insurance
Company [2020] FCA 15 (16 January 2020) concerned
the entitlement to indemnity for damage under a Cargo Insurance
policy.
The case highlights the importance for underwriters, brokers and
insureds to check commencement dates on insurance policies,
ensuring that they take into account different dates and time zones
between where the risk may be, if different to where the insurance
is taken out. In this case, it was a cargo policy and the relevant
risk was at the loading port in the US. The insurance was taken out
in Australia.
The case also highlights the unique nature of marine insurance
and the difficulty of determining what are the relevant terms of
the contract of marine insurance (as maritime lawyers call it), as
distinct from the policy.
