“Is the Claimant entitled to recover from the Second Defendant even if the Second Defendant is right in contending that: (a) the damage to the Claimant’s premises was the result of a deliberate act by the First Defendant; and (b) the insurance obtained by the First Defendant from the Second Defendant was set out in paragraphs 8 to 10 of the Second Defendant’s defence.”
“the policy to which this Certificate relates satisfies the requirements of the relevant law applicable in Great Britain …”
“Liability to other people We will cover you for everything you are legally liable to pay resulting from an accident in your car … and : … someone else’s property is damaged…”
“5. … We will not pay ... any loss damage death or injury arising as a result of a ‘road rage’ incident or deliberate act caused by you …”
“Nothing in this policy will affect the right of any person indemnified or of any other person to recover an amount under or by virtue of the provisions of the law of any country in which this policy operates relating to the insurance of liability to third parties. However you will have to repay to us all sums which we have paid but would not otherwise have paid had the provisions of the laws of such countries not applied”
“(1) …(a) a person must not use a motor vehicle on a road or other public place unless there is in force in relation to the use of the vehicle by that person such a policy of insurance … as complies with the requirements of this Part of this Act…”
“30. A useful starting-point, I think, is to have in mind two contrasting propositions, neither of which (taken in isolation) can sensibly be doubted, but which would appear at face value to be inconsistent with one another. 31. The first of these proposition consists in the general rule that an assured is not covered by an insurance contract in respect of loss caused by his own intentional act: see for example Beresford[1938] AC 586 per Lord Atkin at 595. Rix LJ has described this as "a basic rule of insurance law"…. Lord Atkin stated that the proposition "is not the result of public policy, but of the correct construction of the contract". But public policy would surely vouchsafe at least as much, at any rate in a case where the intentional act in question was also a crime. 32. The second proposition is derived from the following state of affairs. The user of a vehicle is required by statute (on pain of criminal penalties) to be insured in respect of any liability which he may incur by virtue of the death of or personal injury to any person (or damage to property) which is occasioned by the use of the vehicle on a road in Great Britain, and this includes the case where the injury is deliberately and criminally caused:Road Traffic Act 1988 ss. 143(1)(a), 145(3)(a), Hardy[1964] 2 QB 745 , Gardner[1984] AC 548 . This state of affairs entails the conclusion that there is a class of case in which a policy of motor insurance may as a matter of construction cover the assured against losses caused by his own intentional and criminal act (else the statute would be incapable of fulfilment in relation to a category of possible events which, upon high authority, was plainly intended to be covered). This conclusion constitutes the second proposition. On its face it is inconsistent with the first proposition or is an exception to it. 33. It will be obvious that there are two public policies involved here. The first is the broad principle of the common law that no man may rely on his own wrong to gain advantage or benefit against another. That is behind the first proposition. The second is the principle of statute, that innocent third parties should be protected so far as money can do it from the harm - sometimes fatal - that may be inflicted by careless, dangerous and criminal drivers on the public roads: a protection not sufficiently given by the private law of insurance. That is behind the second proposition. The tension between the two arising where the driver’s conduct is criminal is resolved by the rule (derived from Hardy v MIB, confirmed in Gardner’s case) that a policy whose words on their face cover liability for death, personal injury or damage to property occasioned by the use of a vehicle on a road is treated – so as to give effect to the second proposition - as still doing so even where the liability arises on the facts from the driver’s own criminal act; although in that case - so as to give effect to the first proposition - the insured driver himself cannot take advantage of the policy... 35. In my judgment a policy, such as that in the present case, whose insuring clause contains the word "accident", may readily fulfil the requirements of s.145(3)(a), even in relation to a set of facts where the insured's liability arises from his own deliberate criminal act. I have no difficulty in accepting that "accident" and its cognates may be applied so as to cover such a set of facts: depending on the context of the word's use, they plainly can. Billingham[1979] 1 WLR 747 and Lees [1981] RTR 506, cited by my Lords, vouchsafe as much. 36. Moreover, if the court’s view of “accident” is conditioned by the force of the first proposition, there at once arises the danger of an approach being taken to the material provisions of the 1988 Act which would undermine the purpose and utility of section 151. As Rix LJ says... the first proposition – the basic rule – applies whether or not the word “accident” appears in the policy. In theory one might, driven by the first proposition, arrive at a result such as would not allow any policy of motor insurance (whether or not containing the word “accident”) to cover the insured’s liability for damages caused by his own deliberate criminal act; but that would contradict entirely the second proposition. Once one recognises (a) that in the field of motor insurance the role of the first proposition is only to disable the insured from recovering for his own benefit in a case of deliberate criminal conduct, and (b) that the policy may nevertheless and at the same time be treated as one which for the purposes of sections 143 and 145 insures the driver against liability for death (etc) in just such a case (and that is the effect of Hardy ... and Gardner ...), it becomes apparent that the presence or absence in the insuring clause of “accident” or its cognates is of little or no significance.”
“67. … the statute seems to recognise that the insurer may limit the use to which a car is put, because the prescribed form of certificate of insurance itself requires the disclosure in the certificate of limitations on use. The limitations of use in Mr Fisher's case are probably frequently found, and the limitation on business use is obviously a significant one. Thus the insured is on notice regarding what uses to which he might put his car are respectively within or outside his policy. Such limitations on use are not included within section 148(2) so as to be made unenforceable in relation to third party liability by reason of section 148(1). 76. … The difficulty then, as it seems to me, is that it would seem to be arguable that the direct cause of action against an insurer vested in a third party who has obtained a judgment relating to a third party liability in respect of which the assured is required to be covered does not cover every situation but only, for instance, situations where it is "a liability covered by the terms of the policy" (under section 151(2)(a)) or "a liability, other than an excluded liability…" (under section 151(2)(b)). Those provisions may be said to illustrate that it is contemplated that the actual policy in question may well not cover the precise circumstances in which the car was used in the case in question.”
“The insurance referred to in Article 3(1) of [the First Directive] shall cover compulsorily both damage to property and personal injuries.”
“(1) Does the wording of Article 3(1) of the [First Directive] allow the internal rules of the system of compulsory insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles in each Member State to lay down any exclusions deemed fit or, on the contrary, must exclusions from cover be limited to those expressly provided fro in [the Second Directive]? (2) Does the exclusion from compulsory insurance cover of damage to property caused by vehicles driven under the influence of alcohol comply with the abovementioned legislation? (3) Must the cases referred to in Article 2(1) of the [Second Directive] be regarded as a precise and exhaustive enumeration of the statutory provisions and contractual clauses which may remove insurance cover but which are not valid as against the person who has suffered harm, so that any other statutory or contractual exclusion would be valid against him? (4) If a statutory provision or contractual clause which excludes insurance cover where the driver responsible for the damage is intoxicated is valid in relations between the insurer and the insured, could its validity as against a third-party who has suffered harm be considered to be in compliance with the system laid down in [the First, Second and Third Directives]?”
“18. In view of the aim of ensuring protection, stated repeatedly in the directives, Article 3(1) of the First Directive, as developed and supplemented by the Second and Third Directives, must be interpreted as meaning that compulsory motor insurance must enable third-party victims of accidents caused by vehicles to be compensated for all the damage to property and personal injuries sustained by them, up to the amounts fixed in Article 1(2) of the Second Directive. 19. Any other interpretation would have the effect of allowing Member States to limit payment of compensation to third-party victims of a road-traffic accident to certain types of damage, thus bringing about disparities in the treatment of victims depending on where the accident occurred, which is precisely what the directives are intended to avoid. Article 3(1) of the First Directive would then be deprived of its effectiveness. 20. That being so, Article 3(1) of the First Directive precludes an insurer from being able to rely on statutory provisions or contractual clauses to refuse to compensate third-party victims of an accident caused by the insured vehicle. 21. In that context the first subparagraph of Article 2(1) of the Second Directive merely recalls that obligation with respect to provisions or clauses in a policy excluding from insurance the use or driving of vehicles in particular cases (persons not authorized to drive the vehicle, persons not holding a driving licence, persons in breach of the statutory technical requirements concerning the condition and safety of the vehicle). However, by way of derogation from that obligation, the second and third subparagraphs of Article 2(1) provide that certain persons may be excluded from compensation by the insurer, having regard to the situation they have themselves brought about (persons entering a vehicle which they know to have been stolen) or to the compensation they can claim elsewhere (victims who may obtain compensation for the damage suffered from a social security body).”