Wasa International Insurance Company Ltd v Lexington Insurance Company
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Lord Justice Longmore |
| Judgment Date | 29 February 2008 |
| Neutral Citation | [2008] EWCA Civ 150 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
| Docket Number | Case No: A3/2007/0985 & A3/2007/0984 |
| Date | 29 February 2008 |
Court of Appeal
Before Lord Justice Pill, Lord Justice Sedley and Lord Justice Langmore.
The English court would construe contracts of insurance and reinsurance to give effect to the intention of the parties to cover environmental damage, unless there were clear indications to the contrary.
The Court of Appeal so held in a reserved judgment, allowing an appeal by the defendant, Lexington Insurance Co, from Mr Justice SimonUNK ((2008) All ER (Comm) 286) who had upheld the contention of the claimants, Wasa International Insurance Co Ltd and AGF Insurance Ltd, that as a matter of English law they were not liable as reinsurers for the cost of remedying environmental damage to property for which Lexington, as insurer under a contract governed by the law of Pennsylvania, had been found liable by the Supreme Court of Washington.
Mr Christopher Butcher, QC, for Lexington; Mr Alistair Schaff, QC and Miss Sioban Healy for Wasa; Mr Neil Calver, QC and Mr Stephen Midwinter for AGF.
LORD JUSTICE LONGMORE said that the question was whether any damage suffered was covered by either the insurer or the reinsurer depended on whether the parties intended to afford cover only for damage occurring during the policy period or for all damage provided that some of it occurred during the policy period.
Whatever the answer was, it should be the same and it could not differ according to whether the reinsurance was reinsurance of the original subject matter insured or...
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