This course provides an advanced analysis of law and policy covering general insurance. The insurance industry has undergone unprecedented levels of economic and legal reform, as well as rapid convergence with, and sometimes divergence from, other financial services. This course studies the mix of private law and regulation (including codes) that makes up contemporary insurance law.

The course will be divided into three sections:

1. The Insurance Industry and its Regulation – topics covered will include an overview of the insurance industry, its products and services. Key insurance concepts such as indemnity and the nature of insurance and what it means to ‘carry on insurance business’ will be covered. More widely, insurance regulation will consider the role and powers of international and national insurance regulators, the sources of regulatory rules including codes, prudential and consumer regulation. The regulation and law of insurance intermediaries will also be covered.

2. The Insurance Contract - this portion of the course will consider the common law and legislation that constitutes and regulates the basic insurance contract. It will analyse cardinal principles of ‘duty of good faith’, disclosure and misrepresentation. It will consider the mix of case law, legislation and the nature and effect of insurance codes of practice, in areas such as contract terms, claims and claims terms. This part of the course will conclude with a case study of risk management frameworks that will apply the concepts in relation to the analysis and function of insurance contracts in the context of a corporate insurance program and commercial contracts. In short, this section will consider the underlying instruments (insurance policies) behind the regulated activities (carrying on insurance business), studied in the first part of the course.

3. Insurance Disputes and Insolvency - in this third section, the course will consider insurance complaints and insurance litigation. This part of the course will include studying the role of the Insurance Ombudsman, resolution of disputes with insurance brokers and key issues and strategies of insurance litigation. It will conclude with a study of insurance insolvency using lessons from the collapses of New Cap Re, GIO and HIH.

During the course a number of cross-cutting issues or themes will be canvassed. These include the legal issues arising from the collapse of HIH Insurance and the subsequent Royal Commission, insurance law reform in areas such as tort reform, risk management frameworks and general commercial issues surrounding the private law and regulation of insurance.

Legislation and regulation considered will include the Insurance Contracts Act, the General Insurance Code of Practice, the Insurance Brokers Code of Practice, the Insurance Act 1973 and the Financial Services Reform legislation.

Note: This course does not cover life insurance or health insurance.

Classes will combine some lecturing with mainly seminar discussion format, based on prepared materials. A set of reading materials will be available and students will be expected to have read and considered these in advance.