The University of Exeter v Allianz Insurance PLC
Decision date: 14 December 2023
Neutral citation: [2023] EWCA Civ 1484
Court: Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
Insurance classification confidence: high
Overall AI summary confidence: medium
Short overview
A short description of the case, material issue, and outcome where supported by the judgment.
AI confidence in this overview: medium
This appeal concerned whether damage caused in 2021 by the controlled detonation of a World War II bomb was "occasioned by war" and therefore excluded under the insurer's war exclusion. The Court of Appeal upheld the judge's alternative finding that the dropping of the bomb in 1942 and its detonation in 2021 were concurrent causes of approximately equal efficacy, and because the 1942 event was excluded as "occasioned by war" the claim failed. The appeal was dismissed.
Ratio decidendi
The legal reasoning necessary to the outcome, where it can safely be identified from the judgment.
AI confidence in this ratio summary: medium
Where two causes operate concurrently and are of approximately equal efficacy in producing loss, and one of those causes falls within an exclusion in the policy, the exclusion operates so as to defeat the claim.
Obiter dicta
Judicial observations that were not necessary to the outcome, where they can safely be identified.
AI confidence in this obiter summary: medium
The court indicated that the "agency of change" formulation is a useful way of looking at causation but should not be treated as a freestanding or determinative causation test.
Warning
The automated summary was prepared from the beginning and end of a long judgment; consult the original decision for the complete reasoning. The middle of the judgment was omitted from the judgment; that omission may exclude material reasoning or detail relied on in parts of the judgment.