The House of Lords has refused insurance broker Tyser & Co the right to appeal the recent Court of Appeal decision forcing brokers to restart their practice of disclosing placing and claims documents to underwriters.
According to Reynolds Porter Chamberlain (RPC) underwriters historically had the right to request these records from brokers.
However, a Commercial Court decision in Goshawk v Tyser challenged this and led to some brokers refusing to turn over this information unless their clients gave them express permission.
RPC said that the decision by the House of Lords gives the all important final confirmation to a decision by the Court of Appeal that restored the insurers' rights to access documents held by brokers.
Ken Underhill, a partner in RPC's commercial and regulatory insurance group said: “Brokers must make documents available to underwriters in all cases of “reasonable necessity”.
"This includes instances where an underwriter has previously taken copies of documents but has mislaid them, as well as where an underwriter has relied on the broker to look after documents on his behalf.
“Insurers will welcome the end of a period of uncertainty. Efficiencies in the market resulting from long term practices adopted by brokers could have been disrupted if insurers had no right of access to these documents.”
