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
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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,…
Insurance and a specified uncertain event (Namibia)
In this recent Namibian High Court judgment, the insurer argued that the policy was invalid, and could not be concluded, because the formation of an insurance contract depends on the happening of a specified uncertain event and that at the time of the conclusion of the policy the event was already certain.
The insurer…
South Africa’s National Budget Speech 2023: Navigating an uneven economic recovery
By Dale Cridlan
The Minister of Finance, Mr Enoch Godongwana presented his National Budget Speech to the Members of the National Assembly this afternoon. The National Budget Review notes that South Africa is prioritising stable and clear policies so as to promote economic growth in the midst of an uncertain economic outlook. GDP is expected to grow by…
Norton Rose Fulbright’s Big Read Book: 2021 South African Insurance Judgments
Norton Rose Fulbright’s review of the 2021 South African Insurance Judgments is now available HERE.
This is Volume 9 of the Big Read Book Series.
It is a bumper edition covering 32 insurance judgments.
2021 saw an increase in insurance cases heard by the courts, possibly a catch up from the backlog caused by
Rental, covid-19 and impossibility to pay rent
In this judgment the Supreme Court of Appeal decided that the lessor was entitled to evict its tenant as a result of non-payment of rental because the tenant’s pleas that it could not pay rent because of the Covid-19 pandemic could not excuse non-payment from September 2020.
The court said that it was trite that…
Covid-19 business interruption claims, savings and government assistance (UK)
In these October 2022 judgments (judgment 1 and judgment 2), the court held that government furlough payments were to be deducted from loss calculations as savings. The insured’s argument that the payments were simply a reimbursement of employment costs was rejected.
The courts had regard to the basic rules of a contract of…
Electronic signatures in the context of sale agreements
On 26 March 2020, the President announced that South Africa would enter into a lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Prior to this, it was common practice for sale agreements to be signed in wet ink by the contracting parties at a physical meeting. However, following the Covid-19 pandemic, many South Africans work remotely and…
Post-Covid Competition Regulations for SMME growth for comment
Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Ebrahim Patel, speaking at the 16th Annual Competition Law, Economics and Policy Conference, announced a proposed new block exemption for SMMEs, for the purpose of stimulating growth and participation of SMMEs in the economy following Covid-19. These proposed Regulations are open for comment until the end of September 2022.…
High court finds digitally commissioned affidavit not properly signed
This blog was co-authored by: Caitlin Gardiner, Candidate Attorney
The South African court system has found itself in a new digitised era following the restrictive lock‑down measures introduced as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Directives were introduced to safeguard the public’s access to justice which included the widespread adoption of remote technologies such as…