Indian Marine Insurance: Insured Duties from Utmost Good Faith to Fair Presentation

This paper considers how a recent change to English Marine Insurance Law could have impacted recent cases in India. Essentially, all marine insurance contracts in India require utmost good faith in all representations by either party. This was the standard in England until a recent amendment modified the standard to one only requiring a “fair presentation” of all material facts. This paper analyzes four Indian cases where the higher standard was in question and asks if or how those cases would have been decided had this different standard been in place. It uses that analysis to make suggestions about the future of Marine Insurance Law in India.