Consumer Insurance Act 2012

• consumer insurance act (1)

  consumer-> individual who proposes to, or who does, enter into a consumer insurance contract

  insurance contract -> wholly or mainly for the purposes unrelated to the individuals trade, business or profession

  consumers duty -> has a duty to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation -> failure to reply to an insurers request to confirm or amend info previously given can be a misrepresentation
• consumer insurance act (2) - reasonable care


  -> whether or not consumer has taken reasonable care will be determined in light of all relevant circumstances

  • type of consumer contract in question
  • relevant explanatory material produced or authorised by the insurer
  • whether questions asked were clear & specific
  • whether insurer communicated importance of answering such questions

  -> standard of care is that of a reasonable consumer -> consumer considered to have knowledge of a reasonable consumer & to know a matter the insurer asks clear & specific questions about = relevant to insurer
• gain remedies if can show: (1)

  • deliberate or reckless -> can treat contract as if it never existed // refuse all claims // refuse any premiums paid unless unfair to consumer
  • deemed to be deliberate or reckless -> if consumer knew or did not care whether it was true or misleading // AND knew or did not care the matter the misrepresentation was of relevance to the insurer
• gain remedies if can show: (2)

  • consumer made a careless misrepresentation that is one they genuinely believed to be true, but didn't take sufficient care to check the facts -> insurer would not have entered contract = refuse all claims and return premiums

  -> insurer would've entered contract on different terms and these are implied into the contract

  -> insurer would have entered into the contract but charged a higher premium // reduced proportionately the amount paid on a claim