Third Parties
(Rights against Insurers) (Jersey) Law 1948
A LAW to protect the rights of third parties
where persons insured against third party risks become insolvent, and in
certain other events
Commencement
[see
endnotes]
1 Rights of third parties against insurers on bankruptcy etc. of the
insured
(1) Where under any
contract of insurance a person (hereinafter referred to as the “insured”)
is insured against liabilities to third parties which the person may incur,
then –
(a) in
the event of the Royal Court granting an application made by the insured to
place the insured’s property under the control of the Court (de remettre ses biens entre les
mains de la Justice);
(b) in
the event of the property of the insured being declared en désastre;
(c) in
the event of the Royal Court granting an application made by the insured to
make a general cession of the insured’s property (de faire cession
générale de tous ses biens-meubles et héritages);
(d) in
the event of the property of the insured being adjudged by the Royal Court to
be renounced (adjugée
renoncée);
(e) in
the event of the insured making a private composition or arrangement with the
insured’s creditors;
(f) in
the event of the Royal Court granting an application for the holding of a bénéfice
d’inventaire on the estate of the
deceased insured;
(g) in
the event of the Royal Court ordering the administration by the Viscount of the
estate of the deceased insured as a result of the repudiation thereof by the
heirs of the deceased insured; or
(h) in
the case of the insured being a company, in the event of the company being
dissolved or wound up either compulsorily or voluntarily (but not where the
company is wound up voluntarily merely for the purposes of reconstruction or of
amalgamation with another company), or of a receiver or manager of the
company’s business or undertaking being duly appointed,
if, either before or after that event, any such liability as aforesaid
is incurred by the insured, the insured’s rights, or, in the case of a
deceased insured, the rights appertaining to the insured’s estate,
against the insurer under the contract in respect of the liability shall,
notwithstanding anything in any enactment or rule of law to the contrary, be
transferred to and vest in the third party to whom the liability was so
incurred.
(2) Insofar as any contract
of insurance made after the promulgation of this Law in respect of any
liability of the insured to third parties purports, whether directly or
indirectly, to avoid the contract or to alter the rights of the parties
thereunder upon the happening to the insured of any of the events specified in paragraph (1)(a)
to (h), the contract shall be of no effect.
(3) Upon a transfer under paragraph (1),
the insurer shall, subject to the provisions of Article 3, be under the
same liability to the third party as the insurer would have been under to the
insured, but –
(a) if
the liability of the insurer to the insured exceeds the liability of the
insured to the third party, nothing in this Law shall affect the rights of the
insured against the insurer in respect of the excess; and
(b) if
the liability of the insurer to the insured is less than the liability of the
insured to the third party, nothing in this Law shall affect the rights of the third
party against the insured in respect of the balance.
(4) For the purposes of
this Law, the expression “liabilities to third parties”, in
relation to a person insured under any contract of insurance, shall not include
any liability of that person in the capacity of insurer under some other
contract of insurance.
2 Duty to give necessary
information to third parties
(1) Upon the happening to
the insured of any of the events specified in Article 1(1)(a) to (h), it
shall be the duty both of the insured and of the person charged with the
administration of the property of the insured as the result of the happening of
such event, or, in the case of a deceased insured, of the person charged with
the administration of the estate of the deceased insured as the result of the
happening of such event, to give, at the request of any person claiming that
the insured or deceased insured is under a liability to the person, such
information as may reasonably be required by the person for the purpose of
ascertaining whether any rights have been transferred to and vested in the person
by this Law and for the purpose of enforcing such rights, if any, and any
contract of insurance, insofar as it purports, whether directly or indirectly,
to avoid the contract or to alter the rights of the parties thereunder upon the
giving of any such information in the events aforesaid or otherwise to prohibit
or prevent the giving thereof in the said events, shall be of no effect.
(2) If the information
given to any person in pursuance of paragraph (1) of this Article
discloses reasonable ground for supposing that there have or may have been
transferred to the person under this Law rights against any particular insurer,
that insurer shall be subject to the same duty as is imposed by the said
paragraph on the persons therein mentioned.
(3) The duty to give
information imposed by this Article shall include a duty to allow all contracts
of insurance, receipts for premiums and other relevant documents in the
possession or power of the person on whom the duty is so imposed, to be
inspected and copies thereof to be taken.
3 Settlement between
insurers and insured persons
No agreement made
between the insurer and the insured after the happening to the insured of any
of the events specified in Article 1(1)(a) to (h) and after liability has
been incurred to a third party, nor any waiver, assignment or other disposition
made by, or payment made to, the insured after the happening of such event as
aforesaid, shall be effective to defeat or affect the rights transferred to the
third party under this Law, but those rights shall be the same as if no such
agreement, waiver, assignment, disposition or payment had been made.
4 Citation
This Law may be cited as
the Third Parties (Rights against Insurers) (Jersey) Law 1948.