Court Of Appeal Confirms Damage Following Controlled Detonation Of WWII Bomb Was "Occasioned By War"

• Published date: 10 January 2024
• Law Firm: Gowling WLG
• Author: Mr Ashley Pigott, Samantha Holland, Jatinder Sahota and Emma Knight

In March 2023, we reported on the High Court decision in Allianz Insurance plc v University of Exeter, in which the court:

• held that damage caused in 2021 by the controlled detonation of a World War II (WWII) bomb was "occasioned by war" and thus fell within the scope of a War Exclusion clause; and
• granted the declaration sought by Allianz that it was entitled to decline the university's insurance claim.

The Court of Appeal has now dismissed the university's appeal in University of Exeter v Allianz Insurance PLC and confirmed that the damage was excluded from the applicable insurance policy.

Notably, Lord Justice Coulson commented that while "unguided gut feeling" may suggest that damage caused by the controlled detonation of a bomb in 2021 – 76 years after the end of WWII – was not "occasioned by war", the approach to legal causation is however "more nuanced" and is subject to "specific rules and principles".

We examine the Court of Appeal's decision, as well as some of the specific rules and principles applied, in more detail below.

Background summary: Allianz Insurance plc v University of Exeter

Our earlier article summarises the background facts in full. In brief:

• the University of Exeter had submitted a claim on its insurance policy in respect of physical damage to halls of...