Property Insurance - Non-disclosure and breach of warranty

Sugar Hut Group Ltd & Ors v. Great Lakes Reinsurance (UK) Plc & Ors [2010]
Commercial Court, 26 October 2010

This litigation concerned a claim by the owners and operators of four nightclubs under a property insurance policy issued by the Defendant insurers, following a fire at one of the insured premises.

By way of a slip scratched on 24 March 2009, the policy insured various companies within the Sugar Hut Group, including the then holding company and its four subsidiaries through which the clubs were each operated (the "Old Companies"). Soon afterwards, insurers were presented with an endorsement, requesting the substitution of the Old Companies by four new group companies, the Claimants in the litigation. Ostensibly, this amendment was sought merely to reflect a change in the name of the relevant operating companies. The endorsement was duly agreed on 31 March 2009.

The slip contained various warranties concerned with fire and intruder protection, and cover was also expressly subject to receipt of a satisfactory proposal form, in fact provided two weeks after inception.

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Lawyers Jonathan Rogers, James Crabtree, Peter Kempe, Susannah Wakefield, Dr. Gunbritt Kammerer-Galahn, Franz Janssen, Dr. Astrid Wagner, Wolfgang Schaller, Christine Flion, Christopher Dixon