Failure To Comply With Measures To Reduce The Risk, Will Insurers Be Exempt From

In a Supreme Court decision handed down on 15th September 2013¹ which serves as a precedent, judges ruled on one of the most repeated disputes which the lower Courts have dealt with in the past few years, i.e. whether the Insurer can avoid liability in the event the Insured overlooks a condition to apply security measures set in the policy.

The circumstances of the insured event were simple – Mr. Slutzky purchased a comprehensive household insurance policy which included cover for his jewellery, worth approximately $80,000. As a condition to Insurer's liability, the policy stipulated that the jewellery must be kept in the safe while at home. On the date of the burglary, the said jewellery was actually held in a drawer, but not in the safe, and it was taken by the burglars. The burglars did not attempt to force open the safe at all.