The purchaser of a consignment of coal sought to join the party which had loaded hot coal on board the vessel causing an explosion and abandonment of the voyage. It was held that the International Arbitration Act 2017 does not override the admiralty jurisdiction of the court. The Admiralty Jurisdiction Regulation Act 1983 is a special act which governs all admiralty matters that come before South African courts. It confers wide-ranging jurisdiction upon and vests…

A hailstorm physically damaged the aluminium cladding on the south and west sides of the insured building. The insurer was ordered to replace the cladding on all sides of the building because a matching cladding could not be found. It was held that the obligation to pay for “direct physical loss” to the “covered property” meant the damage caused to the building as a whole which required replacement of property of “comparable material and quality”.…

Where an insurance policy included reinstatement value conditions and the insured had taken immediate steps to comply with the reinstatement conditions, the insured could rely on the clause as long as the insured was genuinely desirous of restarting the business but was unable to do so because of the insurer’s unjustifiable decision not to indemnify under the policy. The proviso to the reinstatement value conditions that they are ‘without force or effect if the insured…

When Empire Insurance Company paid the claim for losses sustained by a car hire company when the hirer crashed their Lamborghini, it sought to recover its outlay from Allstate Insurance who insured the driver who was responsible for damage to the vehicle under the rental contract. The court held that Allstate was not entitled to rely on a provision in its policy which only covered a substitute vehicle ‘after all other collectable insurance has been…

The English commercial court set out the limited basis on which an arbitration award can be set aside when it is alleged that evidence of fraud that would have affected the decision only came to light after the award. The merits of an arbitration award are rarely reviewed. Public policy exceptions such as fraud can be invoked but only in a clear case and with extreme caution. When considering whether an award has been obtained…

The South African Schools Act 1996 makes the State liable for any delictual damage or loss caused as a result of any act or omission in connection with any school activity for which the school would otherwise have been liable. The State is only liable to the extent that the event is not covered by public liability insurance obtained by the school. There is an exemption for any ‘enterprise or business operated under the authority…

It has been reaffirmed that where part of a law is invalid for being beyond the powers of the lawmaker (ultra vires) the good in the law will not be separated from the bad if it is complicated and impractical to do so. If there is an incoherent remainder, the entire law will be set aside. In a matter before the Supreme Court of Appeal it was found that the Minister of Mineral Resources had…