International Risks

Fenchurch Law’s International Risks practice group is led by Senior Partner, David Pryce.  Our team of specialist lawyers represent non-UK and multinational policyholders, captives, and cedants from across the world which either insure or reinsure risks into the London Market.  We have acted for some of the world’s best known businesses, and our team has successfully resolved coverage disputes on behalf of clients from every continent.  Although as a firm we are focused exclusively on representing policyholders, our International Risks team is happy to take instructions from captives and from insurers outside the London market in relation to claims by them under reinsurance policies against London Market insurers.

Our specialist solicitors have proven expertise in relation to all aspects relating to International Risks, including pursuing claims under the following policy types:

• Construction / Erection All Risks
• Directors’ and Officers’
• Trade Credit and Political Risks
• Financial Institutions
• Transactional Risks: Warranty and Indemnity, POSI, Tax Indemnity and Contingent Liability
• Crime and Fidelity
• Technology/Cyber
• Political Violence and Terrorism
• Professional Indemnity
• Property Damage & Business Interruption
• Public Liability
• Kidnap & Ransom
• Reinsurance

Our lawyers are highly experienced in dealing with all relevant legal issues, including:

• Application of recent legislation:
  • Insurance Act 2015
  • Enterprise Act 2016
  • Third Parties (Rights against Insurers) Act 2010
• Breaches of conditions, conditions precedent, and warranties
• Claims under Local and Master Policies
• Conflict of laws
• Difference in Conditions / Difference in Limits
• Gaps in cover between policy years
• International Arbitration
• Interpretation of bespoke and standard form exclusions
• Late notification
• Misrepresentation and nondisclosure
• Scope of cover disputes

The group’s work includes coverage disputes relating to:

• The construction of one of the world’s longest cable-stayed bridges, in Central America;
• The construction of the world’s tallest dam, in Central Asia;
• An outage caused by a catastrophic turbine failure, affecting a significant proportion of the host country’s electricity supply, in South America;
• The global outage of one of the world’s best known online gaming platforms;
• The alleged failure by auditors in the Cayman Islands to detect a $100m fraud;
• A Nigerian utility company’s D&O policy;
• Claims against the Directors of a New Zealand insurance company in liquidation;
• The theft of 3000 mt petrochemical products by a national energy operator in Liberia;
• Business Interruption Losses suffered by a global luxury hotel operator in Dubai, Mauritius, Rwanda, South Africa, Mexico, Morroco and Australia;
• Claims brought by a global travel company under local and master policies following catastrophic flooding in France;
• The impact on the hospitality sector of the Gilets Jaunes protests in Paris.

At whatever stage of a claim Fenchurch Law becomes involved, we always work proactively with all parties involved in order to achieve the most appropriate and fair outcome to coverage disputes, working efficiently and at proportionate cost. We work particularly closely and collaboratively with insurance brokers, combining our legal skills with their commercial leverage to achieve the best possible outcome for every one of our clients.