Ansari v New India Assurance
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Lord Justice Thomas |
| Judgment Date | 06 November 2008 |
| Neutral Citation | [2008] EWCA Civ 1617,[2009] EWCA Civ 93 |
| Docket Number | Case No: A2/2008/1317/A |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
| Date | 06 November 2008 |
[2008] EWCA Civ 1617
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE
COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM MANCHESTER DISTRICT REGISTRY
(Me Justice Patten)
Before: Lord Justice Thomas
Case No: A2/2008/1317/A
Mr J Terry (instructed by Messrs Hsk Llp) appeared on behalf of the Appellant.
Mr J Watt-Pringle QC (instructed by Messrs Debenhams Ottaway) appeared on behalf of the Respondent.
(As Approved)
Lord Justice Thomas:
On 29 August 2008 I gave permission to appeal, in relation to this matter, on an issue on the construction of policy. I refused permission to appeal in relation to a finding of fact the judge made as I considered that on the evidence it was open to him; in other words, within the ambit of the findings open to the judge upon the evidence before him.
The application for permission was renewed orally today and I have heard from Mr Terry a very forceful submission in relation to what is ultimately a very short point. As is usual in a fire, a senior fire officer will arrive and try and establish as much evidence as is possible as to what the cause of the fire was. That happened on the night of this fire when a very senior fire officer of great experience from the Manchester Fire Service arrived at the scene at about 1.07 am on 7 September 2005. He, at the time, as I understand it, spoke to various persons, including Mr Ansari, the owner, and the works manager, Mr Khan (also referred to as Mr Ali) and a Mr Kareem. He made some notes; those were destroyed, but the factual content of those notes in bullet-point form was transferred to a document which is before me. It states at the second bullet-point: “sprinklers not working for eighteen months due to defect”.
It is not disputed that that was in fact the case. What was in issue is whether Mr Ansari had knowledge of that fact. About two years, two months after the fire, namely in December 2007, the fire officer made a statement in which he spelt out his recollection. In it he said:
“I spoke to the individual identifying himself as Mr Ansari.”
He asked about the insurance and the fire officer then continued.
“I then enquired about the condition of the sprinklers, to which Mr Ansari stated that they were defective and had been for some time. I asked if he knew how long they had been defective and he stated, “For approximately 18 months.” I took this to mean that the water supply for the sprinklers had been isolated about 18months prior to the fire. In answering my question, Mr Ansari sought conformation of a works manager I now know to be Mr Ali [also known as Mr Khan]. Mr Ali said very little during my conversation with Mr Ansari.”
The conversation continues, but it is not necessary for me to set that out.
A statement was also made by the fire officer. Although I have not been provided with a copy of that document, I think it is possible to ascertain the material passage from the very careful...
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