Misrepresentation in consumer insurance: the United Kingdom legislature opts for a ‘reasonable consumer’ standard’

Hutchison, Andrew; Stoop, Helena

Misrepresentation in consumer insurance: the United Kingdom legislature opts for a ‘reasonable consumer’ standard’

Journal Article

2013-12-01

Journal Title

South African Law Journal

Link to Journal

http://juta.co.za/law/products/3601-south-african-law-journal

Publisher

Juta

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

Department of Commercial Law

Faculty

Faculty of Law

Abstract

In 2012 the UK Legislature passed a new consumer insurance Act, which deals with certain areas of insurance law which have traditionally proved troubling for consumers. This note aims to draw South African attention to the provisions of this statute, and discusses in particular: (i) the treatment of misrepresentations made by consumers in disclosure forms; as well as (ii) its provisions on the issue of constructive knowledge of insurance companies of information disclosed by consumers to insurance intermediaries. There is a detailed case history on both these issues in both the UK and in South Africa, which is used to contextualise the debate. In particular, the materiality standard of the risk awareness of a ‘reasonable consumer’ has been chosen by the UK Act, which is more permissive than South Africa’s ‘reasonable person’ standard.