Ben Quiney KC

Insurance & Reinsurance

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).
• Wheeldon v Millennium Insurance [2017] BLR 234, [2018] Lloyd’s Rep. I.R. 693 and [2019] 4 WLR 56 – Ben successfully represented a recycling company seeking to recover insurance monies due to a fire, which raises issues of coverage, warranties, the recycling industry and technical evidence. The decision in the Court of Appeal is now the leading case on how the Court will approach appeals from the TCC [2019] 4 WLR 56 (Trowers Hamlin).
• Curzon Capital v Pembroke Managing Agency, Ben acted in an insurance dispute arising from various warranties and indemnities provided on a multi-million euro asset purchase involving a shopping centre in Vienna, which raised coverage arguments, technical evidence and issues of Austrian law (CMS).
• Propharma v Various Lloyd’s Syndicates – Ben is acting 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 (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.
• Cladding – 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.

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. This includes cases dealing with the purchase of business 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.

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”. 

News

• Court of Appeal upholds anti-suit injunction
• Crown Office Chambers features in The Lawyer’s Top 20 Cases of this year

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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 QC, Carlo Taczalski and Frederick Simpson discuss the recent Judgment on the Ingenious Litigation for Practical Law Company

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Events

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

Qualifications

• Birkdale School, Sheffield
• BA (Hons) in Law – First Class, University College, Oxford
• Tax Trainee with Ernst & Young
• BCL, University College, Oxford
• Admitted to Gray’s Inn, Lord Birkenhead Scholarship
• Inns of Court School of Law
• Called to the Bar
• Tenant at Crown Office Chambers (previously One Paper Buildings)
• Appointed QC
• Called to the BVI Bar

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