Duty of fair presentation
What you must tell the underwriter before they quote.
Definition
The Insurance Act 2015 replaced the old duty of utmost good faith for business insurance with a duty of fair presentation: disclose every material circumstance you know or ought to know, or give the insurer enough to put them on notice to ask, and do so in a reasonably clear and accessible manner. The remedies for breach are now proportionate rather than all-or-nothing — avoidance only where the breach was deliberate or reckless, and otherwise the contract is treated as it would have been written had the truth been known.
Why it decides money
Prior loss history, unusual storage, an atypical route and any change in the goods themselves are the circumstances that go unmentioned and then matter. Under the 2015 Act an innocent omission no longer voids the policy outright, but it can reduce the claim proportionately.
Related terms
- Marine Insurance Act 1906
- The English statute that still frames most cargo policies worldwide.
- Warranty (in insurance)
- A promise in the policy — since 2015, a suspensive one rather than a fatal one.
More in law and duties
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