Case Alert - [2018] EWCA Civ 62
Court of Appeal re-affirms that exclusion clauses in commercial
contracts do not have to be construed narrowly
In Impact Funding v AIG Europe, the Supreme Court
confirmed that exclusions clauses in insurance policies should not
always be construed narrowly. In this case, the Court of Appeal has
confirmed that the same approach applies to exclusion clauses in
general contracts too.
In construing an exclusion clause in a master services
agreement, it was noted by the Court of Appeal that the traditional
approach of the courts towards exclusion clauses was one of
hostility, which began to change with the passing of the Unfair
Contract Terms Act 1977 (and an acceptance by the courts that such
clauses are an integral part of pricing and risk allocation in
commercial contracts).
