Julian Miller & Sara Robertson advocate honesty and openness from the outset of insurance policies
In HLB Kidsons v Lloyd’s Underwriters [2008] EWHC 2415 (Comm), [2008] All ER (D) 137 (Dec) a tax manager in Kidson’s Edinburgh office raised concerns relating to tax schemes marketed by a subsidiary, S@FI. The manager was of the view the schemes were fundamentally fl awed and could be considered unacceptable tax avoidance. Uncommonly, there appears at that stage to have been no complaint from a third party or potential claimant.
Initially, in a letter of 31 August 2001, Kidsons brought certain concerns to the attention of a placing, rather than a claims, broker. The letter referred to the fact that the Inland Revenue could be critical of some procedures followed by S@FI, mentioned that an investigation would be carried out by a retired Inland Revenue official, but indicated that there was no sign of a claim.
While it was common ground that that letter was not a valid notification of circumstances in itself, it was then presented, together with various other information,
