Setanta Insurance Decision – Pieces In A Jigsaw

Background

The Motor Insurers' Bureau of Ireland ("MIBI") was established to compensate victims of road traffic accidents caused by uninsured and unidentified vehicles.

In the Law Society of Ireland v the Motor Insurers' Bureau of Ireland  case, the Supreme Court found that the MIBI agreements were not designed to cover claims attributable to an insolvent insurance company.

Judge O'Donnell's judgment overturned the earlier Court of Appeal's interpretation of the MIBI agreements and drilled into the relevant principles to consider when interpreting an agreement.

Both President Ryan and Ms Justice Finlay Geoghegan in the Court of Appeal decided that they could not depart from the ordinary and natural meaning of a provision or clause. As a result, if another provision was not compatible with the natural and ordinary meaning of the words under consideration, any consequent injustice must simply be accepted. Applying this approach to the facts would result in the