Claims Co-operation clauses: what will be considered a "reasonable" time for compliance?

There has been much legal debate about the status of terms in insurance contracts that are expressed to be conditions precedent to the insurer’s liability to pay claims. In its judgment in the case of Shinedean Ltd -v- Alldown Demolition Ltd (in liquidation) [2005] All ER (D) 336, handed down on 28 October 2005, the TCC considered the issue in the context of claims co-operation clauses in a policy providing cover in relation to, amongst other things, public liability and contractors’ all risks.

The co-operation with which the TCC were concerned involved the failure by the insured to send documents to their insurers, following notification of a claim, in accordance with the conditions of the policy. The policy provided that it was a condition precedent to insurer’s liability that anything to be done or complied with by the insured should be duly observed.