Insurance

The Court of Appeal dismissed the insured’s appeal against a judge’s decision, granting summary judgment in favour of the respondent insurer, and dismissing the insured’s claim under an insurance policy concerning his property, which had been damaged by fire. The property had been let to students and the insurer had sought to avoid the policy on the grounds of material non-disclosure and misrepresentation. The court held that the policy amounted to business insurance, rather than consumer insurance and that the insured had no real prospect of establishing that he was a ‘consumer’, within the meaning of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 (SI 1999/2083), and the Insurance Conduct of Business Sourcebook rules. Accordingly, the position at common law applied and, in circumstances where the insurer had an unanswerable defence of breach of warranty, the judge had been right to enter summary judgment in its favour.