Policyholder’s Reasonable Expectations

Description

Over the past two decades, protecting contractual parties’ reasonable expectations has incrementally gained judicial recognition in English contract law. In contrast, however, the similar ‘doctrine’ of ‘policyholder’s reasonable expectations’ has been largely rejected in English insurance law. This is injurious, firstly, to both the consumer and business policyholder’s reasonable expectations of coverage of particular risks, and, secondly, to consumer policyholder’s reasonable expectations of bonuses in with-profits life insurance. To remedy these problems, this book argues for an incremental but definite acceptance of the conception of policyholder’s reasonable expectations in English insurance law. It firstly discusses the homogeneity between insurance law and contract law, as well as the role of (reasonable) expectations and their relevance to the emerging duty of good faith in contract law. Secondly, following a review and re-characterisation of the American insurance law ‘doctrine’ of reasonable expectations, the book addresses the conventional English objections to the reasonable expectations approach in insurance law. In passing, it also rethinks the approach to the protection of policyholder’s reasonable expectations of bonuses in with-profits life insurance through a revisit to the (in)famous case Equitable Life Assurance Society v Hyman [2000] UKHL 39, particularly to its relevant business and regulatory background. Foreword Preface ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Contents TABLE OF CASES Table of Statutes 1. Introduction I. An Anomaly II. Policyholder"s Reasonable Expectations
of Coverage and of Bonuses III. Structure of the Book 2. Contract Law and Insurance Law: the Homogeneity I. "Special Nature" of Insurance Law,
or of Insurance? II. The Common Legal Framework III. The Shared Principles of Interpretation
of Contracts IV. Particular Differences-How Different? V. Conclusion 3. Rediscovering Expectations in
Contract Law I. Expectations in Contract Formation
and Damages II. Reasonable Expectations in the Positive Law of Contract III. Reasonable Expectations in Contract Law: Just a Slogan? IV. Reasonable Expectations and Contract Interpretation V. Conclusion 4. Relating Good Faith to Reasonable Expectations I. The Relevance of Good Faith to Reasonable Expectations II. Good Faith in the Common Law of Contract III. Insurer"s Duty of Good Faith IV. Conclusion 5. Revisiting the Doctrine
of Reasonable Expectations
in American Insurance Law I. The Doctrine of Reasonable Expectations
in the US: A Brief Overview II. Recharacterising the Doctrine of Reasonable Expectations: From "Doctrine" to "Principle" III. Conclusion 6. Reassessing the Objections to Policyholder"s Reasonable Expectations
of Coverage in English Insurance Law I. Policyholder"s Reasonable Expectations of Coverage: Where Are We?-Consumer Insurance II. Addressing the Objections to Policyholder"s Reasonable Expectations of Coverage III. Business Insurance and Policyholder"s Reasonable Expectations of Coverage IV. Conclusion 7. Policyholder"s Reasonable
Expectations of Bonuses in
With-Profits Life Insurance I. Discovering Policyholder’s Reasonable Expectations
of Bonuses: Revisiting Equitable Life II. Policyholder"s Reasonable Expectations of
Bonuses in the Actuarial Profession III. Policyholder’s Reasonable Expectationsof Bonuses in Insurance Regulation IV. Reflections on Equitable Life in the House of Lords V. Conclusion 8. Conclusion Bibliography Index