Exceptionally heavy rain over a long period of time causes flooding in a region of England. This results in the run-off of agricultural chemicals and pesticides from land belonging to Giles, who farms in the region. As a result, a local river and surrounding land is polluted. Flooding from Giles' land also causes a large quantity of diesel fuel from rusty and leaking tanks on his farm to be dispersed into the surrounding area. Giles faces the following claims for compensation from:(a) residents of a nearby housing estate. They are claiming for damage to plants and trees in their gardens and to their houses caused by the pesticides, chemicals and diesel fuel in the flood water; (b) the owner of The Angler's Arms, a public house near the river, for loss of revenue. Most of the customers at the public house are anglers, and their numbers have declined sharply since the river was polluted.Giles says that none of this is his fault as he cannot control the weather and, in any event, he has been farming the land for 35 years, while the housing estate was developed only five years ago. He says that the residents knew his farm was there and should have bought houses somewhere else if they did not like living in the countryside.Discuss the extent to which, if at all, Giles is liable for each of the two types of claims made against him. Your answer should identify the torts that Giles may have committed and include a brief explanation of what the claimants would need to prove for each of the torts you have identified. Six marks are allocated for the discussion relating to the residents of the housing estate and four marks for the owner of the Angler's Arms for loss of revenue. (10)Question 2 – Learning outcome 4 (10 marks) Charlene who is 19 years old enters a televised talent competition which is to be shown live every Saturday night for ten weeks. The final round of the competition is due to take place in London on Saturday the 10 December and Charlene books six rooms in a London hotel for that one night for family members who are fans of the competition and want to see her live performance. She agrees the room rates by telephone, but nothing is put in writing between her and the hotel.When Charlene is eliminated from the competition on the 3 December, she telephones the hotel to cancel the booking. She explains that circumstances have changed and the rooms are no longer required. The hotel states, that in accordance with its standard terms and conditions, she will have to pay in full for each room if she cancels them, and suggests that she and her family can still have a night out in London. The hotel e-mails its terms and conditions to Charlene after the telephone call.Charlene's family refuses to pay for the rooms, arguing that it was just a family arrangement that they would support her performance. They say there was no contract between themselves and either Charlene or the hotel. Discuss Charlene and her family's legal obligations towards each other and the hotel, and explain how compensation, if any, is likely to be calculated. Refer to relevant case law where appropriate. (10)Assignment AssignmentQuestion 3 – Learning outcome 5 (10 marks) Kelly, a famous model who lives in London, asks John, the proprietor of her local garage, to find a vintage Rolls-Royce car for her, saying that she wants something very special and rare to be seen in. She has asked John to find cars for her on a number of previous occasions and has always rewarded him with a cash sum amounting to about 10% of the value of the car.John eventually locates a very suitable Rolls-Royce car for sale at a garage owned by Edward in Edinburgh, Scotland. He takes the train up to Edinburgh and agrees to buy the car for £100,000. He does not tell Edward that he is buying the car for Kelly, because he thinks that Edward would ask for more than £100,000 if he knew who the purchaser was. Edward and John have often done business together and so it is agreed that John will pay the £100,000 purchase price by the end of the week. John's own insurance does not cover vehicles of this type so he arranges insurance on the car in the name of Kelly (with himself as a temporary named driver) with a specialist motor insurer. He then has the car serviced at a local Rolls-Royce dealer and drives it back to London the next day.When John arrives in London, Kelly refuses to pay for the car. She has just lost her contract with a modelling agency and is short of money. She also refuses to pay John's train fare and other expenses, the price of the insurance, and the servicing charges, saying that nothing was put in writing and John had no authority to incur these costs on her behalf. She also refuses to give John any commission, saying that this was never agreed either.Discuss whether:a) Edward can legally enforce the sale of the car against either John or Kelly, should he attempt to do so; (5) b) John can legally enforce the claim for his expenses, the insurance and servicing charges and his commission against Kelly. (5)Question 4 – Learning outcome 6 (30 marks) (a) Andrea, a very wealthy business woman, wishes to arrange the following insurance policies in her own name: 1) a policy covering a diamond ring, that Andrea found in the street, the owner of which is yet to be traced; 2) a policy on the life of her eldest daughter, Jen, who is to take over the family business when she leaves university; 3) a temporary policy on a Ferrari car owned by George, a business partner. The Ferrari is worth £150,000 and Andrea is looking after it while George is on holiday; 4) a policy on the life of Gavin, her part-time gardener for many years; 5) a policy on the life of Freda, the high-earning wife of a business associate, Gerald. Andrea owes Gerald £800,000 but Gerald has promised not to ask for the money as long as Freda is alive to support him. Discuss in each case whether the insurance contract is likely to be valid under English law, giving reasons for your answers. (15) (b) Ned successfully applies for a job at a branch of WXY, a major supermarket group with hundreds of branches throughout the UK. Ned is a habitual criminal who is frequently in trouble with the police and who has spent some time in prison. He did not disclose this when applying for the job, which he did under a false name. Most of Ned's fellow employees know about his past, but the Branch Manager, who employed him, does not. Two months after starting employment, Ned and some of his associates steal large quantities of electrical goods from the branch. The insurers of WXY refuse to pay the theft claim saying there has been a breach of good faith on the part of WXY. They argue that Ned's criminal past was well known and should have been disclosed to them. They also state that they will retrospectively rescind the cover on this branch of the group, (in case any more losses caused by Ned come to light), but not cancel the whole policy, which covers all UK branches. WXY's management argue that the insurers should pay, pointing out that the group employs tens of thousands of people and it is impossible to know everything about all of them. Discuss whether or not the insurers are entitled to reject the claim and rescind cover on the branch. Your discussion should include an explanation of the key legal issues involved. (15)1/4 M05/2015 Insurance lawAssignment Question 5 – Learning outcome 7 (20 marks) Bob and Joan, a couple, own their house. The household insurance is in their joint names. Joan goes out to post a letter whilst Bob is away at work. She locks the house door but does not activate the burglar alarm as she will be away for only a few minutes. While she is out, a burglar breaks into the house. When Joan returns a few minutes later, she catches the burglar in the act, but he manages to escape with money, jewellery and a painting to the total value of £4,000.On Bob's return from work, Bob and Joan have an argument about Joan's failure to set the burglar alarm. Bob loses his temper and deliberately smashes a valuable antique vase belonging to Joan. The vase is worth £3,000.Joan notifies the household insurers, claiming £4,000 for loss of money, jewellery and the painting and £3,000 for the smashed vase.The insurers reject both claims. They say that in leaving her home without activating the alarm, she broke a warranty requiring the burglar alarm to be activated, 'whenever the house is unoccupied'. With regard to the smashed vase, they argue that this was a deliberate act of criminal damage which is not covered by the policy.Discuss whether or not the insurers are entitled to deny liability on the grounds stated, referring to relevant case law where appropriate. (20)Question 6 – Learning outcome 8 (20 marks) (a) Bill's house partially collapses in an earth tremor. He makes a claim against his household insurer, who commission a report by a structural engineer. The report reveals that the house had been constructed with defective materials and would not have collapsed had the materials not been defective. The household insurers therefore refuse Bill's claim saying that the collapse was caused by the use of defective materials and not by the earth tremor or any other insured peril. Bill argues that the house had been standing for 30 years and would not have collapsed had it not been for the tremor. Discuss the legal position with regard to Bill's claim, referring to relevant case law where appropriate. (5) (b) Sheila has a personal accident policy that covers death and disablement caused by 'accidental, external, visible and violent means'. She falls from her bicycle and suffers injuries that require hospital treatment. While in hospital she contracts a rare disease from another patient. Being in a weakened state from the fall, the disease causes her to lose her ability to walk. Discuss whether the personal accident insurers are liable under their policy, referring to relevant case law where appropriate. (5) (c) Ben farms land bordering a major river. After a long period of violent storms, the river level is threatening to burst its banks and flood Ben's land, where valuable crops are almost ready for harvest. Ben brings in a firm of contractors who use heavy machinery to raise the river bank and prevent the flooding. After the violent storms cease, the river returns to normal. Ben sends a bill of £80,000 to his insurers. This is based on the sum of £55,000 which he paid the contractors to do the work and £25,000 in respect of damage to standing crops, caused by the use of the heavy machinery that was the inevitable result of doing the work. Ben points out that his insurance policy covers flood and, at the time the work was done, there was a real and immediate risk of his land being flooded, in which event damage to crops well in excess of £80,000 would have resulted and the insurers would have had to pay for it. However, the insurers argue that the land would not have flooded even if he had not raised the level of the river bank and therefore the work was unnecessary. Discuss the liability of the insurers for Ben's claim, referring to relevant case law where appropriate. (10)Assignment 1/5AssignmentQuestion 7 – Learning outcome 9 (20 marks) Roy owns a very rare, 1928, white Rolls-Royce car. He hires it out for his business, 'Vintage Weddings Ltd'. He also hires it to people who want a special car for a special occasion.The car is insured under an agreed value policy, underwritten by AC Insurance (AC), for the sum of £100,000. This sum insured is based on an expert valuation carried out when the car was first insured in 2009. The policy has been renewed annually since that date, without any change to the agreed value. There is no specific cover under the policy for the cost of a hire car while the insured vehicle is off the road following an accident and no cover for loss of use.In 2014 the car is badly damaged in an accident. Roy argues that the car is ruined and can never be properly restored, demanding the full insured value of £100,000. However, AC insist that they will settle the claim by repairing the car, which they are entitled to do under the terms of the policy.In the event, the repair proves to be very difficult, as AC find it impossible to find original replacement parts. In the end, they repair the car using some modern parts and some that require special manufacture, but this is a lengthy process and a year goes by before the car is returned to Roy. During this period of time, Roy has to hire another vintage Rolls-Royce to stop his business from collapsing and incurs £25,000 in hire fees. Furthermore, Roy is not satisfied with the repair work as the car is no longer original. An expert valuer tells him that if the car not been damaged and repaired it would be worth £200,000, because this model of Rolls-Royce has now become very rare indeed. However, because it is no longer original, it is now worth only £100,000.Roy argues that AC should pay him £125,000. He says that he has not been indemnified, because the car is now worth £100,000 less than it was before the accident and the long delay in fixing the car was the result of AC's incompetence, so they should also pay the £25,000 in hire fees.AC argue that they need not pay anything at all. They say that the car is still worth £100,000, which is the insured value, so Roy has suffered no loss. They also point out that the policy does not cover hire car fees or loss of use.Discuss whether or not Roy is legally entitled to any payment from AC and, if so, how the payment should be calculated. Refer to relevant case law where appropriate.