UK Judgment On London Market's Standard Insurance Sanctions Clause

US Sanctions Do Not Relieve Insurers of Obligation to Pay Qualifying Claims

On 12 October 2018, the UK Commercial Court handed down its judgment in Mamancochet Mining Ltd v Aegis Managing Agency Ltd & Others [2018] EWHC 2643 (Comm).

This case related to a claim brought against a number of insurers, including Aegis, for payment under a marine cargo policy relating to the theft of steel billets from an Iranian port in late 2012. The defendant underwriters sought to rely on the standard London market sanctions exclusion clause which provided that:

"No (re)insurer shall be deemed to provide cover and no (re)insurer shall be liable to pay any claim or provide any benefit hereunder to the extent that the provision of such cover, payment of such claim or provision of such benefit would expose that (re)insurer to any sanction, prohibition or restriction under United Nations resolutions or the trade or economic sanctions, law or regulations of the European...