Joshua Brown

Insurance & Reinsurance

Josh has developed a strong insurance practice, involving advices and pleadings (as well as acting more generally in mediations and litigation) covering a wide range of disputes, including:

i) Coverage disputes;

ii) Disputes involving claims of estoppel against insurers;

iii) Arguments around causation of loss;

iv) Quantification of claims.

Josh acts for both policyholders and insurers. His practice involves a wide variety of subject matters, including domestic property insurance, contractors’ all risk policies, public liability policies and commercial policies such as warranty and indemnity insurance.

From March to June 2024, Josh was seconded to a leading boutique insurance firm, working on large, multi-million insurance disputes, gaining particular experience in warranty and indemnity (W&I) and directors’ and officers’ liability (D&O) insurance claims.

Josh’s recent and current work in this area include:

• Acted for the respondent insurers to a pre-action disclosure application brought by the prospective claimants, who sought pre-action disclosure of an internal evaluative report received following an inter-party conference after the claim had first been intimated. They contended that this would be desirable to resolve the proceedings without proceedings. The insurers successfully contended before Master Dagnall in the King’s Bench Division that such disclosure could not be granted in light of the limited scope of pre-action disclosure under CPR, 31.16.
• Advised on behalf of a policyholder with respect to a coverage dispute relating to an asset insurance policy covering breakdown of machinery.
• Advised on behalf of companies in South Wales which owned multiple factories and commercial premises in the region and suffered significant damage during Storm Eunice in February 2022. The insurers denied that the policy was engaged, asserting that the storm was not a proximate cause of the damage (but rather that the damage was caused by wear and tear and general age of the buildings). The issues included application of the concept of proximate causation and evaluation of evidence.
• Defended a claim under the public liability section of a builders’ insurance policy following damage to a neighbouring property. I drafted the defence for the Second Defendant. The matter raised issues including: i) the extent to which public liability policies may cover pure economic loss; ii) the extent to which liability for pure economic loss may be assumed; iii) various exclusions in the policy.
• Working (on secondment) on a multi-million pound W&I insurance claim by a purchaser of shares in a company, including issues relating to alleged breaches of various warranties, loss and numerous other matters.
• Working (on secondment) on a multi-million pound D&O insurance claim by an individual majority shareholder following an unfair prejudice petition against him. The coverage dispute revolved around the potential application and construction of a conduct exclusion clause in the policy.
• Working (on secondment) on a substantial public liability insurance claim by a company following a claim for statutory compensation relating to an injury overseas. The coverage dispute revolved around the construction of an extension clause relating to overseas liability.
• Working (on secondment) on a multi-million pound D&O insurance claim by a company director following proceedings being brought against him for breach of fiduciary duties. The coverage dispute revolved around the construction of exclusion clauses relating to capacity and the financial conditions of the company.
• Working (on secondment) on a substantial public liability insurance claim by a leisure company following personal injury proceedings relating to an injury at their premises. The coverage dispute revolved around the construction of particular product words in the policy.
• Working (on secondment) on substantial claims under an NHBC policy.
• Acting in Haque v R&Q Capital No.6 Ltd [2023] 8 WLUK 37, a successful summary judgment application in one of a large number of CWI claims brought against the insurers of installers of CWI in homes, especially in the north of England.
• Advised insurers on coverage with respect to a six-figure subsidence claim;
• Advised on behalf of managing agents of a Lloyd’s Syndicate with respect to a potential c.£200,000 claim against third party claims handlers;
• Advising in relation to a claim under the Third Parties (Rights against Insurers) Act 2010 including various issues of policy coverage;
• Settling a defence to a contribution and/or indemnity claim involving issues of interpretation of indemnity clauses and s.1(4) of the Civil Liability (Contribution Act) 1978;
• Settling a defence to a claim for economic losses following an alleged collision with a railway bridge made against an insurer under the Third Parties (Rights against Insurers) Act 2010;
• Advising insurer clients as to a potential claim against an uninsured driver pursuant to an indemnity agreement;
• Advising as to the correct interpretation and effect of a contractual obligation to take out joint insurance;
• Advising on jurisdiction under Article 13 of the Brussels Regulation in a contribution claim against an Italian insurer;
• Advising (during pupillage) on whether the benefit of an indemnity policy had successfully been assigned to the prospective claimant;
• Advising as to limitation issues in an insurance coverage dispute.

Selected Cases

Awards

Winner of the Times Law Awards (2016)

Winner of the Maitland Advocacy Prize (2015)

Gray’s Inn (2016): Bedingfield Scholarship.

Gray’s Inn (2015): CPE/GDL Award.

City Law School (2015): GDL Scholarship.

Articles

• An Exercise in Utility: Liquidators Adjudicating Construction Disputes
• Extensions of time and adjournment during COVID-19: Muncipio De Mariana & Ors v BHP Group Plc and BHP Group Ltd [2020] EWHC 928 (TCC) (20 April 2020)

Read more

Qualifications

Bar Professional Training Course (2016-2017): City Law School

Graduate Diploma in Law (2015-2016): City Law School

MPhil, Merton College, University of Oxford (2013-2015)

BA (Hons), Merton College, University of Oxford (2010-2013), First Class

Memberships

COMBAR

LCLCBA