Jones v Environcom Ltd and another. MS PLC t/a Miles Smith Insurance Brokers, third party, [2010] EWHC 759 (Comm), [2010] All ER (D) 76 (Apr)
A broker had to take reasonable steps to ensure that a proposed policy was suitable for the insured’s needs.
By definition a policy which was voidable for non-disclosure was not suitable. In order to ensure a policy was suitable, a broker had an obligation to advise the insured of the duty to disclose all material circumstances and the consequences of not doing so, he had to indicate the sort of matters which ought to be disclosed as being material and had to take reasonable care to elicit matters which ought to be disclosed but which the insured might not think necessary to mention. In order to discharge the duty to disclose, it was not sufficient to rely upon written standard form explanations and warnings annexed to proposals or policy documents. The broker had to satisfy himself that the position was in fact understood by the insured and that would usually require a specific oral or written exchange on the topic, both at the time
