Julian Miller and Parminder Badhan emphasise the importance of complying with notification provisions in insurance policies
Under a claims-made insurance policy, the insurer is liable for claims made against the insured by a third party during the policy period. A notification provision, which is a key feature of all claims-made policies, allows the insured to notify its insurer when it becomes aware of circumstances that might later give rise to a claim. Subsequent claims arising from the circumstances notified are then covered by the policy.
The scope and operation of notification provisions in claims-made policies has not always been entirely clear. Two High Court cases, HLB Kidsons (a firm) v Lloyd's Underwriters subscribing to Lloyd's Policy No 621/ PKID00101 [2007] EWHC 1951, [2008] 2 All ER 769, and more recently, Kajima UK Engineering Ltd v Underwriter Insurance Co Ltd [2008] EWHC 83, [2008] All ER (D) 194 (Jan), provide clarification.
HLB Kidsons (a firm of accountants) had received claims arising from tax avoidance schemes. It argued that it had notified the underwriter of the circumstances giving
