Groupama Insurance Company Ltd. v Overseas Partners Re Ltd. & Anor, Court of Appeal - Commercial Court, January 24, 2003, [2003] EWHC 34 (Comm)

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Groupama Insurance Company Ltd. v Overseas Partners Re Ltd. & Anor, Court of Appeal - Commercial Court, January 24, 2003, [2003] EWHC 34 (Comm)

Case No: 2001 FOLIO 269

Neutral Citation Number: [2003] EWHC 34 (Comm)

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE

QUEENS BENCH DIVISION

COMMERCIAL COURT

Royal Courts of Justice

Strand, London, WC2A 2LL

Date: 24 January 2003

Before :

THE HONOURABLE MR JUSTICE MORISON

| |GROUPAMA INSURANCE COMPANY LTD |Claimants |

| |- v - | |

| |(1) OVERSEAS PARTNERS RE LTD |Defendants |

(2) AON LIMITED

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Mr S. Berry QC and Mr D. Jowell (instructed by Messrs Clyde & Co ) for the Claimants

Mr A. Fletcher (instructed by Messrs Davies Arnold Cooper) for the Defendants (Overseas Partners Re Ltd)

Mr J. Nash (instructed by Messrs Cameron McKenna) for the Defendants (Aon Limited)

Hearing dates :    10 - 19 December 2002  

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Approved Judgment

I direct that pursuant to CPR PD 39A para 6.1 no official shorthand note shall be taken of this Judgment and that copies of this version as handed down may be treated as authentic.

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Mr Justice Morison

The Hon. Mr Justice Morison

Morison J

Background

1. The underlying facts are relatively straightforward. Groupama, the Claimants, seeks payment of unpaid claims and an indemnity for future claims under a Marine Personal Accident Quota shareTreaty retrocession to which Overseas Partners Re [OP] were the counterparty and are the fist defendants. The chain between the original insured and the two parties to the Action is as follows:

2. Certain US companies primarily involved in the maritime industry are the original insureds. US surplus lines producing brokers [McGriff Seibels & Williams of Texas] acted on the Insured’s behalf in obtaining first tier cover through Lloyd’s placing brokers, Lloyd Thompson (now known as JLT Risk Solutions Limited) [JLT] from Lloyd’s. Syndicate 724 was the lead syndicate which, with other syndicates and one London based Company, became the Insurers. The insurance covered, amongst other things, “liability in respect of the Insured’s employees … in respect of bodily injury and death”. The original insurances were subject to various deductibles, both aggregate deductibles and deductibles per loss. AON, who are insurance brokers and the second defendants, on behalf of the Insurers placed reinsurance in relation to the risk of bodily injury and death, with LDG Worldwide Ltd [LDG] who were underwriting agents for Groupama, and to whom Gr...

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