Insurance contract law
Warranties and other terms
15.Under the current law, breach of a warranty in an insurance contract discharges the insurer from liability completely from that point onwards, even if the breach is remedied. An insurer may also avoid liability even if the breached term would not have increased the risk of the type of loss occurring which was actually suffered. The Act abolishes “basis of the contract” clauses, which have the effect of converting pre-contractual information supplied to insurers into warranties. It also provides that the insurer’s liability will be suspended, rather than discharged, in the event of breach of warranty, so that the insurer is liable for valid claims which arise after a breach has been remedied. Further, it provides that non-compliance with a warranty or other term relating to a particular type of loss should not allow the insurer to escape liability for a different type of loss, on which the non-compliance could have had no effect.
