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06 May 2016 / John De Waal KC
Issue: 7697 / Categories: Features , Insurance / reinsurance
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A series of unfortunate events

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Jane Austen has found her way into court to aid with interpretation, observes John de Waal QC

Judges occasionally lighten their judgments with literary references. The quotation from Alice in Wonderland “Words mean what I want them to mean” is a favourite in cases involving the interpretation of contracts, and Shakespeare appears fairly regularly.

In AIG Europe Ltd v OC320301 LLP [2016] EWCA Civ 367, [2016] All ER (D) 121 (Apr) the Court of Appeal (Longmore, Kitchin and Vos LJJ) had to decide the natural meaning of the word “series” in a case involving alleged negligence by a firm of solicitors acting on behalf of investors buying into holiday developments in Turkey and Morocco. Innovatively, in this case, the court decided to quote not from Shakespeare or Lewis Carroll but Jane Austen’s Emma .

One Claim

The context was cl 2.5 of the Solicitors’ Minimum Terms and Conditions (MTC), entitled “One Claim”, the aggregation clause. All policies of insurance of course have a limit of cover and aggregation clauses are clauses in such contracts which permit insurers to treat

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