Barrister Profile

Colin Wynter QC

Appointed QC2006
Year of Call1984

Profile

Principal areas of practice: Insurance and Reinsurance Litigation and Arbitration; Conflicts of Law; General Commercial; some areas of Employment Law.

Recommendations

Colin Wynter QC receives praise as "a fine advocate" - Insurance and Reinsurance, Legal 500.

He is "a well known name who commands respect for his technical ability" - Professional Negligence, Legal 500. 

Considered "very responsive" and a "really safe pair of hands for any case" - Insurance and Reinsurance, Legal 500. 

He has a strong reputation for being "sure-footed with insurance issues" and "clued up" on all aspects of insurance and is appreciated for his ability to "crunch through piles of documents"
- Insurance and Reinsurance, Legal 500.

Colin is noted for his "fantastic bedside manner with clients and strong presence in court" - Chambers UK.

Recent/Current Work

Synergy Health v CGU Insurance plc & Others [2010]EWHC 2583 (Comm); insurance; major fire and loss; non-disclosure and misrepresentation at renewal of insurance.

Employers’ Liability Policy “Trigger” Litigation (Durham & Others v BAI & Others) [2010] EWCA Civ 1096  (Court of Appeal and, previously, Queen’s Bench, [2008] EWHC 2692); insurance; test case in which was and is instructed by of 5 of 7 individual and corporate claimants, conducted pursuant to direction of President of Queen’s Bench Division, regarding whether insurers’ liability to indemnify in relation to asbestos caused mesothelioma cancers is “triggered” by reference to date of inhalation of asbestos fibres or date on which legally recognised “injury” first developed.  Permission to appeal to the Supreme Court has been given by the Court of Appeal to all parties.

Flexsys America v XL Insurance Company Ltd [2009] EHWC 1115 (Comm); insurance; public and products liability local and global umbrella policies; leading English case on operation of “drop down” clauses in “umbrella” coverage.

Brit Syndicates v Italaudit & Grant Thornton International [2006] Lloyd's Rep IR 487 (and CA, 2006, to be reported; also pending to HL); professional indemnity insurance; composite policy; umbrella organisation insuring itself and members against professional liability; policy covering umbrella organisation only where facing liability for claims made against insured members; policy avoided against member; whether umbrella organisation nevertheless entitled to indemnity for claims against itself.

ERC Frankona Reinsurance v American National Insurance Co [2006] Lloyd's Rep IR 157; reinsurance; non-disclosure by reinsured of fraud conviction of reinsured's underwriting agent; whether reinsured or agent knew of fraud, whether knowledge of agent to be imputed to reinsured; whether fraud material and induced reinsurers; whether reinsured guilty of misrepresentation as regards asserting that itself acting as insurer (and not reinsurer); whether false statements amounted to warranties; Marine Insurance Act 1906, sections 18, 19 and 20.

Re New Cap Re [2006]; New South Wales Supreme Court, Sydney, Australia; reinsurance; two weeks in Sydney for examination of underwriter, on behalf of liquidators of insurance company, with regard to underwriting by particular underwriter of certain categories of business by underwriter.

Rendall v. Combined (2006) Lloyd's Rep IR 732; reinsurance; deaths of employees fleeing World Trade Centre; whether employees were on "business trip" for purpose of underlying US primary cover, such as to fall within scope of UK reinsurance, which reinsured for "business travel" only.

Cable & Wireless and Pender Insurance v. Willis (UK) Ltd & 16 others (current) (Defending Willis Group companies in action brought by the Cable & Wireless group arising out of the activities of 5 former Cable & Wireless employees and a former Willis Group employee in and about the running of the Cable & Wireless' captive insurer, Pender Insurance. Claims include breach of fiduciary duty and dishonest assistance in breaches of fiduciary duty in relation to various reinsurance transactions entered into by the C&W captive. Pursuit of related contribution proceedings against Cable & Wireless.)

Currently acting for insureds, reinsureds, insurers or reinsurers in a number of insurance and reinsurance disputes, including personal accident insurance/reinsurance, US "casualty", product liability and excess of loss.

Also advising and acting for certain interested parties in the current, post Bolton Metropolitan Council v Municipal Mutual controversy with regard to the appropriate trigger for cover under certain employers' liability policies in respect of latent diseases.

Regularly advise and act for reinsurers/insurers in proper law/forum disputes, concerning choices of law between English law and, recently, Israeli law, Jamaican law, South African law, Brasilian law, Bermudan law, Turkish law, and the laws of USA states of Delaware, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Texas, California and Colorado.

Significant Cases

Insurance/Reinsurance

Scott & Ors v. Copenhagen Re and Ors [2002] Lloyd's Rep IR 775 and (Court of Appeal) [2003] Lloyd's Rep IR 696; reinsurance; market supported test action as to whether loss of 15 Kuwait Airways and 1 British Airways aircraft arose out of single event (invasion of Kuwait/capture of airport), or whether arose out of several events.

  • Turner and Newall v. Royal Sun Alliance &Ors [2003] (Chancery & Court of Appeal) [2004] Lloyd's Law Reports 336; insurance coverage for asbestos related injuries; whether as matter of construction, mesothelioma included within description, "pneumoconiosis" in exclusion, and whether undertaking by the insured to pay claims was effectively an exclusion.
  • R (Geologistics Limited) v. Financial Services Compensation Scheme [2003] 1 WLR 1696; insurance test case as to entitlement of corporate compulsory insureds to recover own defence costs from the FSCS following liquidation of insurer
  • Mabey v. Johnson v Ecclesiastical & Ors (No 2) [2004] Lloyd's Rep IR, 10; insurance; how many claims would have been made against the insured by the various foreign governments/government ministries to which it supplied its modular bridges.
  • Frans Maas v. Sun Alliance (Commercial Court) [2003];insurance; whether freight forwarder/warehouser insured acted recklessly in permitting goods to be released to consignee without corresponding provision of original bills of lading; also, whether was custom and practice that industry standard contractual liability insuring provision be taken also to include cover for tortuous liability to third parties.
  • New Hampshire v. Oil Refineries Ltd [2003] Lloyd's Rep IR, 386; insurance; avoidance; whether non-disclosure of 6th year of loss history in a five year loss history (a) material, and (b) induced underwriter; will be reported)
  • Gan Insurance Co. Ltd v. Tai Ping Insurance Co Ltd [1999] Lloyd's Rep IR 229, and (CA) [1999] Lloyd's Rep. IR 472 (conflict of laws; Rome Convention; proper law of reinsurance contract; whether words, "as original" in reinsurance slip effective to incorporate into reinsurance contract express choice of foreign law in underlying contract of insurance);
  • Gan Insurance Co. Ltd v. Tai Ping Insurance Co Ltd (No.2) [2001] Lloyd's Rep IR 291 and (CA) [2001] Lloyd's Rep IR 667 (reinsurance; construction of revised SCOR claims co-operation, follow settlements, condition precedent)
  • Gan Insurance Co. Ltd v. Tai Ping Insurance Co Ltd (No.3) [2001] Lloyd's Rep IR 670, and (CA) [2001] Lloyd's Rep IR 682 (reinsurance; construction of settlement agreement; whether settlement an "admission of liability" within meaning of claims co-operation clause; whether evidence of co-reinsurers admissible as to whether settlement "proper and businesslike")
  • Baker & Ors v. McCall International [2001] Lloyd's Rep IR 149 (insurance; conflict of law; effect on extant English proceedings of procedural barring order in California)
  • Mabey v Johnson v. Ecclesiastical & Ors (No 1) [2001] Lloyd's Rep IR 369 (insurance; implication of aggregation of claims provision, to form single "claim", in professional indemnity contracts of insurance)
  • Colonial v. Chung (2000, Privy Council, on appeal from Trinidad and Tobago Court of Appeal) (insurance; standard of proof required to establish arson, and construction of policy wording; whether breach of condition precedent bars recovery of all claims under insurance or only those heads of loss to which breach relates)
  • Trygg Hansa v. Equitas [1998] 2 LLR 439 (effect of words "as original" on incorporation of arbitration clauses in contracts of reinsurance);
  • Pacific & General Insurance v. Baltica Insurance [1996] LRLR, 8 (availability of summary judgment where claims co-operation clause present in reinsurance contract);
  • Home Insurance Co. v. M. E. Rutty [1996] LRLR 415 (property in/ right to possession of reinsurance pool records);
  • Pride Valley v. The Independent Insurance Co. (1997) and (CA) (1999) (non-disclosure by insured/broker; "inducement" of underwriter);
  • Equitas v. Sirius (1999, Commercial Court) (waiver of legal professional privilege by foreign reinsurer, on asserted claim, by reinsurer, in response to allegation of waiver/affirmation of reinsurance, that was ignorant of English law principles of avoidance for material misrepresentation/non-disclosure)
  • Stockwell v. Outhwaite (1991-1992, Commercial Court) (Lloyd's Names insurance litigation; professional negligence of underwriter, obligations of underwriters, members' agents and syndicate auditors at "reinsurance to close" of relevant syndicate years of account)
  • Agnew - Somerville v. Wellington ("Outhwaite") (1994 - 1996, Commercial Court) (as above)
  • Caudle v. Sharp (1993, arbitration) (meaning of "one event" in insurance contracts);

Numerous other insurance and reinsurance cases in arbitration;

Other Commercial

  • Cicatiello v. Anglo European [1994] 1 LLR 678 (International Carriage of Goods; CMR defence on grounds of unavoidable circumstances)
  • Lambert v. West Devon Borough Council, [1997] JPL 735, 27/3/97 TLR (Hedley Byrne "exceptional circumstances" giving rise to duty of care by local planning authority to member of public)
  • Stephenson v. Rogers (CA) [1999] 2 WLR 1064, [1999] 1 All ER 613 (leading case, giving definitive interpretation to words "in the course of a business" in Sale of Goods Act 1979)
  • Barnard Marcus v. Ashraf (CA) [1988] 1 EGLR 7 (estate agents' right to commission on sale, even if not introduced purchaser)

  • Governor of Bank of Scotland v. Butcher (CA) (1998) (conflict of law; Rome Convention; relevant law applicable to contract of guarantee)

Seminars & Lectures

Has appeared on legal education television and videos to discuss certain of the above and other cases.

Lectures frequently at conferences and "in-house" to solicitors on insurance and reinsurance matters.

Publications

Review of the Year - Top 5 Insurance Cases of 2010

Author of Insurance Chapter in "Law and the Business of Sport," by Griffith-Jones (Butterworths, 1997)

Additional Information

Has sat as Chairman of Enquiry (25 days), writing up 200 page report and recommendations.

Fluent in French.

Lover of all "real" sports. (ie. not golf and nothing on snow or ice)

Education

LLB (1st Class) (London), 1982, M. Phil (Cantab) 1983