High Court orders personal injury defendant to disclose insurance details

In a recent decision, the High Court ordered disclosure of the defendant's insurance arrangements in the context of a personal injury claim where the claimant sought an order for periodical payments: Senior v Rock UK Adventure Centres [2015] EWHC 1447 (QB).

Historically, the courts have tended not to require parties to disclose insurance arrangements unless such arrangements are relevant to the issues in dispute. The judgment in the present case refers to the decision in Harcourt v FEF Griffin [2007] EWHC 1500 (QB), in which the court ordered disclosure of insurance arrangements in a very similar context, but does not discuss other case law which has challenged the rationale applied in Harcourt – for example West London Pipeline & Storage Ltd v Total UK Ltd [2008] EWHC 1296 (Comm), considered here.

It may be that applications for disclosure for the purposes of determining whether periodical payments of damages for personal injury can be made will be treated as limited exceptions to the otherwise general rule that a court will not order disclosure of a party's insurance arrangements unless they are relevant to the issues in dispute. However, it will be interesting to see whether a future judgment provides clarity on this issue. For more information, click here to view our insurance team's e-bulletin on the decision.