Ben Quiney KC

Insurance

He advises upon and litigates all insurance related disputes, including: D&O, PI, PL & EL, product liability, and Warranty and Indemnity policy disputes; dealing with insolvent insureds and insurance companies; subrogated recovery claims (including disaster claims); all coverage issues (including non-disclosure, notification, moral hazard, and warranty cases); and issues of scope of cover, such as business interruption. Insurance issues frequently arise in all other areas of Ben’s practice, such as Professional Negligence and Construction.

Ben has wide experience of arbitrations and has acted in ICC, DIA, LCIA, LMAA, ARIAS, SIAC, and ad hoc arbitrations. Ben also acts as an arbitrator and accepts appointments in this and other areas.

In the latest edition of Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners he is identified as a Leading KC in Insurance.

Recent cases include:

Selected Cases

• AIG Europe SA v John Wood Group Plc [2022] Lloyd’s Rep IR 485 and [2022] Lloyd’s Rep IR 561 – Ben is acting for insurers under an umbrella policy facing claims arising from a multi million dollar action in Canada following a pipeline failure. The insureds issued claims in Canada and the insurers successfully secured an antisuit injunction based on an exclusive jurisdiction clause in favour of England (DAC Beachcroft)
• Propharma v Various Lloyd’s Syndicates – Ben acted for insurers facing a multi-million pound claim under a warranty and indemnity policy arising from the acquisition of a pharmaceutical services. The case deals with issues of policy interpretation, issues of warranty and knowledge and complex quantification arguments (DAC Beachcroft).
• Project Angel Bidco v Various Lloyd’s Syndicates – Ben is acting for insurers in a significant claim made under a warranty and indemnity policy issued for an acquisition of a large construction company. Key issues relate to the interpretation of exclusions, the knowledge of the purchaser and the quantification of the claim. Ben successfully defended a preliminary issue trial as to the scope of an Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption Exclusion (ABC Liability) under the W&I policy [2023] EWHC 2649 (Comm) (DACBeachcroft).
• LIBOR – Ben acted in an ICC arbitration for a trader facing prosecution arising from the well-publicised alleged Libor manipulation on issues arising from available D&O cover (Fenchurch Law).

Covid-19

Ben has advised upon and acted in a number of claims and arbitrations arising from the recent pandemic. He has advised insured, insurers and brokers on a variety of issues including existence and extent of coverage and the quantification of claims. Ben is acting in a series of international arbitrations dealing with business interruption losses in the hospitality industry across multiple jurisdictions. Ben has acted in and advised on cases including:

• An Arbitration arising from a multi-million claim by a major hotel group relating to multiple prestige hotels across the world arising from the effect of Covid-19 on their business and the various response of government across the world.
• A very high value Arbitration brought by various resorts in the Caribbean as a result of the Covid-19 at each of the various islands and the diverse government responses.
• Ben has advised an insurer across its book of business relating to high value Covid-19 claims. This has included advice on various arbitrations and Commercial Court claims, some of which settled and some of which have progressed through the Commercial Court.

Cladding and Fire Safety Claims

Following the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower Ben has advised on a large number of claims, arbitrations and recovery actions for both claimants, insured and insurers. This has included a number of policy issues ranging from coverage, claims issues, and the level of permitted recovery. Ben has advised primary and excess insurers as to the application of coverage clauses, exclusions and aggregation on a number of high profile projects.

Claims have included:

• Hospital: acting for an architect defending claims arising from the construction of a dedicated A&E Hospital, including alleged defects in the wall system used and internal fire protections (Northumbria Healthcare NHS Trust v Lendlease).
• Student Accommodation: acting for insurers defending claims relating to the monitoring of construction work with respect to internal compartmentation and other elements, as well as coverage issues (Shepherd Construction v Dunnett Craven and ors).
• Large Apartment Complex: advising on multiple claims arising from a class action of claims dealing with alleged defects and decennial insurance products.
• Retirement Complexes: alleged claims arising from multiple developments relating to the construction and design of cavity walls including the operation of exclusions in various layers of insurance cover.
• Professional Indemnity Policies: advising on various PI policies for various construction professionals as to the diverse forms of wording on cladding and fire safety clauses and underlying claims.
• Large Apartment Complex: acting for the Defendant engineers facing multiple claims from flat owners for allegedly defective cladding and fire protection (The 52 Occupiers of the Ceramic Works v Bowmer & Kirkland Ltd).

Fire, Flood and other Disaster Claims

Ben has extensive experience of very large fire claims and disaster litigation. These claims often deal with difficult technical evidence and raise complex issues of business interruption and causation. He has been involved in TCC and Commercial Court multi-million pound litigation arising from major fires such as: Primark v Magna, Cadbury v ADT, Southwark v Greenacre, Howmet v ECS, Wheeldon v Millennium Ins, CPG v Great Lakes, V A Laundry v Sterling Ins, Boots v Schneider, NGS v Covea & Riverdale, 2 Entertain v Sony, and National Trust v TFT and Cuffe. He was part of the team of Counsel working on the Buncefield litigation for Total, including dealing with the disclosure dispute in that litigation. He advises on both the coverage and recovery elements of this category of cases.

Warranty and Indemnity Insurance

Ben has extensive experience of advising on and dealing with claims arising from W&I policies that provide cover for the acquisition of enterprises in a variety of business sectors. In the directories it is said that “his understanding of warranties and indemnities policies is second-to-none.” His cases include dealing with the purchase of many different businesses, such as in the pharmaceutical, property, energy, construction and freight sectors. These cases raise a number of complex insurance and commercial law issues arising from both warranties and tax indemnities. Case include: Curzon Capital v Pembroke Managing Agency; Propharma v Various Lloyd’s Syndicates; and Project Angel Bidco v Various Lloyd’s Syndicates.

D&O Insurance

Ben is regularly instructed to advise and act on disputes dealing with Directors and Officers policies. Ben has particular expertise in this area as a result of his experience with Directors’ Duties cases. Recent cases have included:

• A coverage dispute arising from alleged wrongful trading activities in the green energy market.
• Issues arising from directors disqualification proceedings and alleged wrongful trading in the running of a major charity.
• A dispute relating to whether defence costs should be indemnified in a long running financial fraud case.
• Coverage issues arising from US Securities prosecutions involving Russian nationals in the energy sector.
• Coverage arising from a major disaster and associated inquiries.

Professional Indemnity Claims

Ben regularly advises on all issues connected to professional indemnity disputes. Recent work includes:

• Advice on aggregation of claims arising from various conveyancing transactions.
• Advice on the inter-relationship between contractual and non-contractual exclusions.
• Advice on the scope of cover for IFAs.
• Advice on the effective of a deliberate or reckless act of a professional on cover.
• Advice on the impact of US claims on the management of the Lloyd’s Market and Lloyd’s brokers.

Construction Insurance

Ben frequently advises on insurance disputes arising from construction projects. This includes claims and recoveries. Ben has particular experience with CAR policies (including LEG3 and DE5 wordings) and professional indemnity cover. Recent projects he has acted on include:

• Coverage issues arising from a large PFI Hospital project.
• CAR and PI coverage issues with respect to multiple power stations across Europe.
• Professional Indemnity and CAR claims following the modernisation of a major railway system.
• Coverage issues arising from landlord’s claims following a major fire in a South London nightclub.
• Coverage issues arising from a prestigious University project including CAR and LEG3 issues.
• Co-insurance problems arising in various projects including the construction of a prestigious development in London and the construction of a landmark office block also in London.
• Coverage issues arising from product liability policies and the failure of products in various large construction projects, such as construction materials, wall systems and marine engineering products.
• Claims involving decennial defects liability policies issued for new build developments and high rise buildings.
• Recoveries arising from fires on various projects, including a major National Trust Property and specialist engineering facilities that involved the use of “Hot Works”. 

Awards

News

• Crown Office Chambers shortlisted in eleven categories at The Legal 500 Bar Awards 2023
• Court of Appeal upholds anti-suit injunction

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Articles

• 2 Entertain Video Ltd & Ors v Sony DADC Europe Ltd [2020] EWHC 972 (TCC) – TCC gives judgment in major insurance claim arising out of the 2011 London Riots
• Ben Quiney KC, Carlo Taczalski and Frederick Simpson discuss the recent Judgment on the Ingenious Litigation for Practical Law Company

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Events

• David Sears KC and Ben Quiney KC to speak at the White Paper Conference
• MBL: Construction Law Conference 2016 – London

Qualifications

• Birkdale School, Sheffield.
• University College, Oxford. BA (Hons) in Law – First Class.
• Tax Trainee with Ernst & Young
• University College, Oxford. BCL.
• Admitted to Gray’s Inn. Awarded the Lord Birkenhead Scholarship.
• Inns of Court School of Law.
• Called to the Bar of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, Virgin Islands Circuit.

Seminars

Ben regularly gives seminars in his areas of expertise. He is happy to do so as part of in-house training. In the past few years he has given seminars on the following topics: Insurance Act 2015; liquidated damages; fire and disaster claims; bonds & guarantees; conflicts of interest; privilege and the law of evidence; damages; fiduciary and directors’ duties; interim commercial remedies; restrictive covenants; the impact of Covid 19 and insurance claims; loss of a chance in professional negligence claims; and the Law Commission reform of Insurance Law.

Memberships

• LCLCBA
• TECBAR
• COMBAR
• PNBA