The Society of Lloyd's v Clementson
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Sir Thomas Bingham Mr,Steyn,Hoffmann L JJ |
| Judgment Date | 10 November 1994 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
| Date | 10 November 1994 |
Court of Appeal
Before Sir Thomas Bingham, Master of the Rolls, Lord Justice Steyn and Lord Justice Hoffmann
Insurance - Lloyd's central fund - action for reimbursement - preliminary ruling declined
In actions brought by the Society of Lloyd's against two names for reimbursement of funds paid out of the central fund in discharge of the names' liabilities, the national court would not, on the material before it, answer preliminary issues of Community law relating to whether provisions relied on by Lloyd's were capable of infringing article 85 of the EC Treaty (Cmnd 5179-II).
The Court of Appeal so held allowing appeals by John Stewart Clementson and Gian Carlo Alessandro Mason, from Mr Justice Saville (The Times January 11) who had ruled in favour of the Society of Lloyd's, inter alia, that
(i) in bringing the proceedings under the Central Fund Bylaw (No 4 of 1986) Lloyd's was acting in a regulatory capacity or performing a regulatory function;
(ii) in exercising its powers to seek reimbursement for sums paid out of the central fund Lloyd's was not engaged in activities which were subject to articles 3(g), 5, 85 and 90 of the EC Treaty; and
(iii) in the context of the proceedings, section 14 of the Lloyd's Act 1982, the Membership Bylaw (No 9 of 1984) and the Agency Agreement (No 1 of 1985) were not capable of infringing those articles.
The Court of Appeal dismissed the defendants' appeals against the judge's ruling that terms should not be implied into the standard form of general undertaking between Lloyd's and the names on their becoming members of Lloyd's to the effect that Lloyd's should (i) regulate and direct the business of insurance at Lloyd's in good faith; (ii) exercise its powers of regulation and direction for the purposes for which they were given under the contract, namely the objects set out in section 4 of the Lloyd's Act 1911 and/or (iii) regulate and direct the business of insurance at Lloyd's with reasonable care.
Mr John Beveridge, QC and Mr Craig Orr for Mr Mason; Mr Jeremy Lever, QC, Mr Nicholas Green and Mr Richard Slowe, solicitor, for Mr Clementson; Mr Michael Beloff, QC, Mr Peter Duffy and Mr Paul Stanley for Lloyd's.
THE MASTER OF THE ROLLS said that the issues of Community law were to be answered in the context of such facts as were uncontentious or obvious beyond the possibility of reasonable contradiction. If the answers depended on other facts, the issues could not be answered at...
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