2025 Leeds Coverage Symposium
Leeds Coverage Symposium 2025
We are excited to announce the return of the Leeds Coverage Symposium! Join us on 5th June at Aspire Leeds.
Designed for brokers, the Coverage Symposium provides valuable insights into coverage and claims challenges – helping you navigate and avoid common pitfalls.
This year’s event kicks off with registration and a welcome lunch at 1pm, followed by talks on key legal cases, shaping the insurance disputes landscape. The final session will end at 5pm, leading into our wine tasting event at 5:30pm.
Equip yourself with the knowledge and expertise to better support your clients.
Location - Aspire Leeds
2025 Programme
1:00 PM
Registration & Lunch
2:00 PM
Welcome, and Talks: Part 1
How to avoid going up in smoke: a Property Damage and BI case study
A case study of a claim under a property damage policy involving breaches of both the duty of fair presentation and a condition precedent. We will also consider a claim for late payment under s13A of the Insurance Act 2015, and some specific business interruption issues. The session will also include some tips for brokers navigating these types of claims.
SPEAKERS
Alex Rosenfield, Partner
Jessica Chappell, Senior Associate
Composite Insurance - What it is, and why does it matter?
This talk will discuss just what exactly is composite insurance, and how it affects issues such as non-disclosure, fraudulent claims, subrogation and s.13 claims for late payment.
SPEAKER
Jonathan Corman, Partner
Last Orders! Could this be the last Covid BI round-up?
As the tsunami of cases that was the Covid BI litigation finally looks to be running its course and with limitation on the horizon, we look at some of the recent decisions, discuss what is still going through the courts, and consider what loose ends remain to be tied up.
This will include the Court of Appeal decisions in:
- London International Exhibition Centre v Allianz
- International Entertainment v Allianz
- Bath Racecourse Company Ltd & Ors v Liberty Mutual
- UnipolSai Assicurazioni SPA v Covea
Plus the ongoing litigation in The Fulham Shore Limited v QIC
And where this leaves us with regard to causation, composite policies, occurrences, furlough and evidencing cases of Covid-19 ‘At the Premises’.
SPEAKER
Anthony McGeough, Senior Associate
3:30 PM
Break
3:45 PM
Talks: Part 2
How not to get sued: salutary tales from the Covid BI litigation
“Unprecedented” was the phrase that most reverberated throughout the courtrooms during the Covid BI litigation in relation to the pandemic and its impact.
But its unprecedented effect goes beyond the nation’s health and wellbeing, and the economic effect on businesses; it has also had an impact on the legal landscape, and on English insurance law in particular, far wider than its subject matter.
With many policyholders finding that their business interruption policy did not respond to cover their pandemic losses, it is perhaps surprising that more brokers did not find themselves in the firing line.
Next time round they might not be so lucky. In this session, we look at what has changed and the steps brokers need to take to future-proof their policies and themselves!
SPEAKER
Joanna Grant, Managing Partner
The Sky’s the Limit: the implications of Sky & Mace v Riverstone [2024]
Chris will discuss the recent Court of Appeal decision in Sky UK Ltd & Mace Ltd v Riverstone and its commercial consequences. The Court’s decision covers a number of issues relevant to CAR brokers, but also from a general insurance perspective, including:
- The recoverability of development/deterioration damage after the period of insurance.
- Investigation/mitigation costs.
- What constitutes “damage”.
SPEAKER
Chris Ives, Partner
Excluded or Not Excluded – That is the Question
They say one should judge the quality of an insurance policy by what it excludes. This talk will touch on the principles of interpreting policy exclusions, before covering some common professional indemnity exclusions, including contractual liability exclusions and cladding & fire safety exclusions, and will consider the issues that can arise in relation to claims for liquidated damages and the offset of fees.
SPEAKER
Daniel Robin, Deputy Managing Partner
5:00 PM
End of talks, and closing remarks
5:30 PM
Wine Tasting
Join us at our Leeds office (less than a 10-minute walk from Aspire Leeds) for a delightful evening at our fine wine tasting. Explore the subtle nuances and complex flavours of specially curated wines, complemented by a delicious selection of cheeses and charcuterie.
Speakers
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Leeds Coverage Symposium
Venue: Aspire Leeds
Date: 5 June 2025
2024 Southern Coverage Symposium
Southern Coverage Symposium 2024
We are delighted to announce the return of our Southern Coverage Symposium. Join us on 14th November at The Merchant Taylors’ Hall for an insightful full-day event.
The Symposium commences with registration and breakfast at 09:30am, followed by an interactive workshop and talks covering key cases that have influenced the insurance disputes landscape in recent years. The final talk will conclude at 4.00pm.
Gain the knowledge and insights necessary to confidently guide your clients through common coverage problems. Register your place today!
Location - Merchant Taylors' Hall
2024 Programme
09:30 AM
Breakfast & Registration
10:00 AM
Welcome, and Aggregation workshop
Aggregation is one of the most frequent areas of dispute between policyholders and their insurers. Unusually, it is also an area where the relevant policy provisions aren’t either obviously “pro-policyholder” or “pro-insurer”. This interactive session will look at some of the most common ways in which limits of indemnity and deductibles are capable of aggregating, including by reference to “event”, or “originating cause”, or by reference to a “series” of one of those, and will invite the audience to apply the principles discussed to a selection of case studies.
SPEAKER
David Pryce, Senior Partner
10:45 AM
Recent Developments regarding S.1 of the Defective Premises Act 1972
S.1 of the Defective Premises Act 1972 (“the DPA”) requires those involved in building and designing new dwellings to work in a professional or workmanlike manner, to use proper materials and to see that the completed dwelling is fit for habitation. This session will provide a refresher on some of the key principles under S.1 of the DPA, together with an update on recent case law; namely, URS Corporation Limited v BDW Trading Limited [2023] which establishes that the duty under S.1 is also owed to developers, and Vainker v Marbank Construction Ltd [2024], which reinforces the well-established fitness for habitation test.
SPEAKER
Alex Rosenfield, Partner
11:10 AM
Subrogation: Stepping into the Insured’s Shoes
A look at the key issues, in relation to subrogation, that can arise as well as some recent decisions on this area, including Dassault Aviation SA v Mitsui Sumitomo and RSA v Textainer.
SPEAKER
Anthony McGeough, Senior Associate
11:30 AM
Break
12:00 PM
Delos Shipholding v Allianz: Fortuitousness & Non-disclosure
Fortuity and non-disclosure – some lessons from the Commercial Court’s decision in Delos Shipholding v Allianz. Plus a brief update on S.11 Insurance Act (breach of warranty) following the recent case of MOK Petro Energy v. Argo
SPEAKER
Jonathan Corman, Partner
12:30 PM
Estoppel: the welcome resurgence of this policyholder-friendly concept
An update on recent cases where Waiver and Estoppel, came to the policyholder’s rescue, including World Challenge Expeditions v Zurich and George on High Limited v Alan Boswell Insurance Brokers Limited.
SPEAKERS
Daniel Robin, Deputy Managing Partner
Dru Corfield, Associate
1:00 PM
Lunch
1:45 PM
Bridging the Gap: Recent developments in claims against insurance brokers
This talk will cover the key issues for brokers to consider when they get sued by their clients (or how to avoid getting sued in the first place). Alex will discuss the takeaways from recent Court judgements such as Norman Hay plc v. Marsh [2024], Hamsard One Thousand and Forty-Three Ltd v AE Insurance Brokers Ltd [2024] and Infinity Reliance Ltd v. Heath Crawford Ltd [2023].
SPEAKER
Alex Potts KC, 4 Pump Court
2:30 PM
Covid 19 BI Litigation Update 2024: a very appealing year!
Covid 19 BI claims continue to dominate the legal landscape with ongoing uncertainty as to the extent of cover.
In this update we review the current state of play by reference to:
- The outcome of the “At the Premises” appeal;
- The forthcoming appeals in the “Non-Damage Denial of Access” cases;
- Notifiable Disease extensions following the appeal in Bellini v Brit;
- Furlough – yes, you guessed it… it’s going to appeal…
SPEAKER
Joanna Grant, Managing Partner
3:00 PM
Break
3:30 PM
The Future of the Defects Exclusions after SCB and Archer
A Court in the USA has delivered the world’s first legal decision on the most generous of the three London Engineering Group (LEG) clauses related to defect exclusions, LEG3, in the case of South Capitol Bridgebuilders v Lexington Insurance Company. The fact that the Construction All Risks (CAR) market has been waiting for a LEG3 decision for this long means that SCB v Lexington was always going to receive a lot of attention. However, the unrestrained and intemperate language used by the Judge means that there is a risk that the decision will create more heat than light, and has the potential to lead to a reaction by CAR insurers which could negatively affect the interests of policyholders. This case study therefore attempts to take a step back from the eye-catching language used by the Judge in SCB, and to discuss what the future for LEG3 might look like.
SPEAKER
David Pryce, Senior Partner
4:00 PM
End of talks
Speakers
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Southern Coverage Symposium
Venue: The Merchants’ Taylor Hall
Date: 14 November 2024