[2018] EWCA Civ 2403
Court of Appeal refuses permission to appeal a decision
regarding coverage under a property insurance policy
Insurers appealed from the first instance decision that the
insured was entitled to an indemnity under its property insurance
policy following a fire at its waste processing plant.
The Court of Appeal noted that "Complaints about factual
findings and expert evaluation...are surprisingly commonplace"
and it therefore re-stated the following general principles: (1) To
be overturned on appeal, a finding of fact must be one that no
reasonable judge could have reached. In practice, that will usually
occur only where there was no evidence at all to support the
finding that was made, or the judge plainly misunderstood the
evidence in order to arrive at the disputed finding; (2) A first
instance judge's assessment of, or evaluations based upon,
expert evidence adduced at trial must be approached by an appellate
court with similar caution; and
