Our Major Loss Property team is known as the region’s leader in managing major and intricate losses in static assets insured under ISR policies. These cases typically involve high value, complexity, or severity. This includes navigating market-profile indemnity disputes, complex coverage issues, dual insurance actions, and crisis management for local and international insurers during catastrophes.
We’ve provided counsel to the international insurance market on some of Australia’s largest, multi-billion-dollar property losses, such as the Christchurch Earthquakes, the Queensland Floods, and ISR responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. We also advise on major loss, multi-party recoveries involving factually or forensically complicated issues, often necessitating active engagement with co-insurers and the wider market.
Recent work
We are advising a large market of local insurers on a contentious claim under an ISR policy concerning extensive hail damage to a large shopping centre in Queensland. The claim centres around proper construction and application of the Basis of Settlement clause to determine the appropriate scope of repair works necessary to reinstate the property to a condition substantially the same as when new. We instructed and managed a number of technical experts who formulated a novel remedial plan and hyper efficient reinstatement methodology which more than halved the value of the Insured’s claim.
We acted for a market of local and international insurers in relation to an AUD $50million claim under an ISR policy by a national waste management company arising from a significant flood loss at a waste management facility in Queensland. We provided advice on proper construction of the removal of debris provisions and application of the applicable sublimit which limited Insurers’ exposure to only AUD $4.5million.
We provided advice on a contentious claim under an ISR policy arising from an outage of a data centre which took out all online systems of a national gaming operator. The claim involved proper construction of the LMA5400 “silent cyber” Endorsement in circumstances where the Policy also contained an endorsement providing cover for “computer breakdown”.