Peter MacDonald Eggers KC and Richard Sarll gave an in-depth market briefing on “Constructive Total Loss in the law and practice of marine insurance” to the International Underwriting Association on Tuesday 18 April 2023.
The recording is now on YouTube – please see link below.
About the event
With an estimated 50,000 merchant ships sailing daily on our oceans, sometimes in perilous conditions, it is no wonder that some may occasionally experience severe damage, so too may their cargoes. In marine insurance, a constructive total loss (CTL) is the name given to those instances of loss and damage where the ship or cargo is not actually lost, yet there are reasons to treat it as being lost from a commercial point of view. One such example is where costs of repair exceed the ship’s value, much as with the “write-off” of a car.
Recent years have seen important decisions on CTL including The B Atlantic, The Brillante Virtuoso, and The Renos. It is and remains a complicated area of marine insurance law and practice.
In this market briefing, Peter and Richard aimed to provide an in-depth study of current issues for those who work within the maritime sector with including:
– The types of CTL: the drafting of sect. 60, MIA 1906
– Deprivation of possession: what are the relevant tests?
– Best practice when claiming a CTL on figures; obtaining repair specifications and yard quotes.
– Judicial approaches to evaluating CTLs: allowances for unforeseen/increased costs.
– The role of the notice of abandonment
– What are the pre-conditions for additional sue and labour charges, and when do they end?
– The insurer’s rights on payment
Video
A recording of the briefing is available to view below.