Insurance

A broker owes his client a duty to take reasonable steps to obtain a policy which clearly met his client’s needs and was suitable for the client. An aspect of that was that the client should not be exposed to an unnecessary risk of legal disputes with the insurer.

The broker owed his client a duty to draw to the client’s attention any onerous or unusual terms or conditions, and should explain to the client their nature and effect. After the risk had been placed, there was a continuing duty on the broker, when he became aware of information which had a material and potentially deleterious effect on the insurance cover which had placed, to act in his client’s best interest by drawing it to the attention of his client and obtain his instructions in relation to it.