Entire agreement clauses continue to generate disputes which, in
turn, lead to further judicial re-statements and refinements of
previous decisions. They also continue to generate articles such as
this.
One of the issues considered by the Court of Appeal in the case
of AXA Sun Life Services plc v Campbell Martin Limited
(and three other actions brought by AXA where common issues arose)
[2011] EWCA Civ 133 was the entire agreement clause, standard in
AXA's agency appointment agreements, which excluded liability
for representations and, in particular, misrepresentations. The
defendants alleged that various representations had been made by
AXA to each of them before they entered into their agreement,
including the representation that they would be able to operate on
a multi-tied basis. AXA's standard form of agreement, in fact,
appointed them as its tied agent which precluded them from
operating on a multi-tied basis.
