For years South Africa has battled the plight of loadshedding. Despite many promises over the years for the issue to be addressed, loadshedding has become part of our daily lives. It was therefore encouraging when, on Wednesday 23 August, South Africa signed the Framework Agreement on Cooperation in Green Energy, a joint memorandum of cooperation
Financial Institutions Legal Snapshot
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Remote Commissioning of affidavits post covid is not condoned by the High Court unless exceptional circumstances exist
In a July 2023 Judgment, the High Court considered whether a commissioner of oaths is able to commission a document where a deponent is not physically present at commissioning.
The court was required to consider whether a founding affidavit to an application as well as the replying affidavit had been properly commissioned in compliance…
Events, conditions and benefit groups in a life policy lead to multiple claims
This blog was co-authored by Maano Manavhela, Candidate Attorney.
A life insured, who suffered heart and arterial disease in April 2012 requiring a coronary stent and was paid 10% of a benefit amount, a bi-femoral bypass and paid 90% of the benefit amount in July 2012, was awarded another 100% of the benefit amount following…
Covid-19 Insurance and Damage (UK)
In this judgment the insured restaurant argued that the requirement in the murder, suicide or disease extension that the interruption or interference with the insured business be caused by damage did not require physical damage.
It was common cause that there had been no physical loss or damage to the insured premises or property used…
The Rocket Docket in the US
Every year in the US an assessment is made as to the fastest civil trial court in 94 US court districts.
The results are interesting. The fastest Rocket Docket was in the district of Montana with 18.3 months from start to finish. Texas and Arkansas followed soon after with 18.8 months. At the other end…
Many risks are exceeding the capacity of the insurance market
An increasing number of non-life risks are seen as being too large to be absorbed by the private insurance and reinsurance market or needing premiums or limits or both that reduce the cover available. Since the Covid-19 claims were shoe-horned in by the courts of the UK and South Africa to provide extensive interruption cover…
Covid-19 insurance, “at the premises” and causation (UK)
In this high court judgment the court considered whether “at the premises” disease cover entailed the same approach to proximate causation as the disease cover considered by the Supreme Court in Financial Conduct Authority v Arch Insurance (UK) Limited [2021] UK SC 1.
The relevant wording of the policy in the lead action read:
“The…
New emerging risk insights
Swiss Re has published their latest SONAR (Systematic Observation of Notions Associated with Risk). Many of the risks mentioned are specific to the northern hemisphere but some of them will be of interest locally in South Africa.
- Medical advances lead to longer life expectancy creating new insurance opportunities; but they create more difficulty in predicting mortality
…
SCA ruling on Covid-19 rental remissions
In April 2023 the Supreme Court of Appeal confirmed that a tenant may claim a remission of rental where vis major interferes with the tenant’s beneficial use and enjoyment of the property, unless the terms of the lease provide otherwise. However, if the premises are sub-let there will be no interference with the head tenant’s…
Business Interruption insurance: Composite and joint policies
A February 2023 High Court judgment which dealt with a Covid-19 business interruption claim under the business interruption non-damage extension considered the nature of a composite and joint insurance policy.
On the facts the court was satisfied that the third applicant was a joint insured under the policy. The court also held that the second,…