Third Parties (Rights against Insurers) (Jersey) Law 1948

Revised Edition

04.920

Showing the law as at 31 August 2004

This is a revised edition of the law

Third Parties (Rights against Insurers) (Jersey) Law 1948

Arrangement

Article

1            Rights of third parties against insurers on bankruptcy etc. of the insured

2            Duty to give necessary information to third parties

3            Settlement between insurers and insured persons

4            Citation

Supporting Documents

Endnotes

Table of Legislation History

Table of Renumbered Provisions



Third Parties (Rights against Insurers) (Jersey) Law 1948

A LAW to protect the rights of third parties where persons insured against third party risks become insolvent, and in certain other events

Commencement [see endnotes]

1      Rights of third parties against insurers on bankruptcy etc. of the insured

(1)    Where under any contract of insurance a person (hereinafter referred to as the “insured”) is insured against liabilities to third parties which the person may incur, then –

(a)     in the event of the Royal Court granting an application made by the insured to place the insured’s property under the control of the Court (de remettre ses biens entre les mains de la Justice);

(b)     in the event of the property of the insured being declared en désastre;

(c)     in the event of the Royal Court granting an application made by the insured to make a general cession of the insured’s property (de faire cession générale de tous ses biens-meubles et héritages);

(d)     in the event of the property of the insured being adjudged by the Royal Court to be renounced (adjugée renoncée);

(e)     in the event of the insured making a private composition or arrangement with the insured’s creditors;

(f)     in the event of the Royal Court granting an application for the holding of a bénéfice d’inventaire on the estate of the deceased insured;

(g)     in the event of the Royal Court ordering the administration by the Viscount of the estate of the deceased insured as a result of the repudiation thereof by the heirs of the deceased insured; or

(h)     in the case of the insured being a company, in the event of the company being dissolved or wound up either compulsorily or voluntarily (but not where the company is wound up voluntarily merely for the purposes of reconstruction or of amalgamation with another company), or of a receiver or manager of the company’s business or undertaking being duly appointed,

if, either before or after that event, any such liability as aforesaid is incurred by the insured, the insured’s rights, or, in the case of a deceased insured, the rights appertaining to the insured’s estate, against the insurer under the contract in respect of the liability shall, notwithstanding anything in any enactment or rule of law to the contrary, be transferred to and vest in the third party to whom the liability was so incurred.

(2)    Insofar as any contract of insurance made after the promulgation of this Law in respect of any liability of the insured to third parties purports, whether directly or indirectly, to avoid the contract or to alter the rights of the parties thereunder upon the happening to the insured of any of the events specified in paragraph (1)(a) to (h), the contract shall be of no effect.

(3)    Upon a transfer under paragraph (1), the insurer shall, subject to the provisions of Article 3, be under the same liability to the third party as the insurer would have been under to the insured, but –

(a)     if the liability of the insurer to the insured exceeds the liability of the insured to the third party, nothing in this Law shall affect the rights of the insured against the insurer in respect of the excess; and

(b)     if the liability of the insurer to the insured is less than the liability of the insured to the third party, nothing in this Law shall affect the rights of the third party against the insured in respect of the balance.

(4)    For the purposes of this Law, the expression “liabilities to third parties”, in relation to a person insured under any contract of insurance, shall not include any liability of that person in the capacity of insurer under some other contract of insurance.

2      Duty to give necessary information to third parties

(1)    Upon the happening to the insured of any of the events specified in Article 1(1)(a) to (h), it shall be the duty both of the insured and of the person charged with the administration of the property of the insured as the result of the happening of such event, or, in the case of a deceased insured, of the person charged with the administration of the estate of the deceased insured as the result of the happening of such event, to give, at the request of any person claiming that the insured or deceased insured is under a liability to the person, such information as may reasonably be required by the person for the purpose of ascertaining whether any rights have been transferred to and vested in the person by this Law and for the purpose of enforcing such rights, if any, and any contract of insurance, insofar as it purports, whether directly or indirectly, to avoid the contract or to alter the rights of the parties thereunder upon the giving of any such information in the events aforesaid or otherwise to prohibit or prevent the giving thereof in the said events, shall be of no effect.

(2)    If the information given to any person in pursuance of paragraph (1) of this Article discloses reasonable ground for supposing that there have or may have been transferred to the person under this Law rights against any particular insurer, that insurer shall be subject to the same duty as is imposed by the said paragraph on the persons therein mentioned.

(3)    The duty to give information imposed by this Article shall include a duty to allow all contracts of insurance, receipts for premiums and other relevant documents in the possession or power of the person on whom the duty is so imposed, to be inspected and copies thereof to be taken.

3      Settlement between insurers and insured persons

No agreement made between the insurer and the insured after the happening to the insured of any of the events specified in Article 1(1)(a) to (h) and after liability has been incurred to a third party, nor any waiver, assignment or other disposition made by, or payment made to, the insured after the happening of such event as aforesaid, shall be effective to defeat or affect the rights transferred to the third party under this Law, but those rights shall be the same as if no such agreement, waiver, assignment, disposition or payment had been made.

4      Citation

This Law may be cited as the Third Parties (Rights against Insurers) (Jersey) Law 1948.

Endnotes

Table of Legislation History



Legislation



Year and No



Commencement



Third Parties (Rights against Insurers) (Jersey) Law 1948



L.4/1948



18 June 1948



Table of Renumbered Provisions



Original



Current



1(1)(e)



impliedly repealed, omitted from this revised edition



1(1)(f)



1(1)(e)



1(1)(g)



1(1)(f)



1(1)(h)



1(1)(g)



1(1)(j)



1(1)(h)