Legal Guidance and Research / Experts / Susie Wakefield
Susie Wakefield#4710
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Susie Wakefield

Shoosmiths

Susie Wakefield is a partner in Commercial Litigation specialising in insurance and reinsurance litigation and arbitration. Susie also has a broad range of experience advising clients in the energy sector and in commodities trading.

Susie qualified and practised for many years in New York and Bermuda as well as in London. Susie has advised Bermuda, US, and London market insurers and reinsurers in litigation in federal and state courts in New York, the Supreme Court of Bermuda, and the High Court and in arbitration. She has represented clients in complex, multimillion-dollar disputes, including cases with substantive international and multijurisdictional aspects.

Recent experience includes:-

advising on a range of (re)insurance matters, including claims and coverage disputes and issues arising in connection with Bermuda Form policies and reinsurance arrangements involving captives and segregated account companies.

Advising insurers/reinsurers on complex policy wording reviews; significant property and casualty losses; claims involving allegations of fraud, misrepresentation, and nondisclosure; D&O issues; breach of warranty claims; claims for contribution from co-insurers; and insolvency-related matters.

Advising on numerous insurance and reinsurance (both facultative and treaty) coverage disputes in litigation and arbitration ' under the Arbitration Act 1996, the Federal Arbitration Act, the Bermuda International Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1993, and the UNCITRAL Model Law as well as ad hoc arbitrations and those under various institutional rules in the UK, Europe, and the US (notably ARIAS US). Susie co-authored the 'Lloyd's and London Market' chapter of volume seven of the New Appleman on insurance Law Library Edition, 2012.

Susie qualified in the UK in 1997 and is also admitted to practise in New York (2003) and Bermuda (2008).

Practice Area

Panel

  • Consulting Editorial Board

Qualified Year

  • 1997

2 Contributions by Susie Wakefield

Double Insurance: Tests, Insured’s Election, Contribution, and the Effect of Escape, Excess and Rateable Proportion Clauses
PRACTICE NOTES
Double Insurance: Tests, Insured’s Election, Contribution, and the Effect of Escape, Excess and Rateable Proportion Clauses
Overlapping insurance polices There are numerous and varied ways by which an assured can find themselves unexpectedly with overlapping insurance, whether by intention or by accident. Illustrations include circumstances where the assured relies on cover placed by another party, or, in corporate settings, where risk managers are unaware of legacy policies procured by their predecessors in post. Likewise, an assured might unknowingly arrange insurance for particular assets, not appreciating that those assets already fall within a wider, existing policy providing broader protection. Another possibility is that the assured simply wishes to lift the overall limit of protection or, indeed, to hedge against the chance of their insurers becoming insolvent. At common law there is no obligation to avoid double insurance. Assureds are free to place insurance on the same insurable interest as many times, and under as many contracts, as they choose (Godin v London Assurance (1758) 1 Burr. 489 (not reported by LexisNexis®); Albion Insurance Co Ltd v Government Insurance Office of New South Wales (1969) 121 C.L.R. 342) (not reported by LexisNexis®). Nor does common law impose a duty to notify an insurer of the presence of other policies, save where that fact alters the character of the insured risk, for...
Insurance & Reinsurance
Exclusion Clauses under UK Insurance Law: Defining Cover, Common Exclusions across Policy Types, Illegality, Burden of Proof, Causation and Interpretation
PRACTICE NOTES
Exclusion Clauses under UK Insurance Law: Defining Cover, Common Exclusions across Policy Types, Illegality, Burden of Proof, Causation and Interpretation
What are exclusion clauses Unlike certain exclusion or exemption terms used in general contracts, an exclusion clause in an insurance policy is seldom intended to remove, curb, or cap a party’s legal liability. Instead, such provisions delineate the edges of the insured risk by specifying what is not insured under the policy. Whereas insuring provisions are often drafted broadly for ease, exclusions operate to pare back the breadth of cover. Exclusion clauses must be differentiated from other policy terms, including conditions precedent and warranties. The role of an exclusion is to identify, from the outset, those particular perils that insurers will not cover in any circumstances under the policy. Conditions precedent and warranties, by contrast, only influence the extent of insurance when the insured breaches them. Under the Insurance Act 2015, a breach of a condition precedent or warranty can result in the insurer’s liability being discharged, or cover being suspended under the policy. Common exclusions Some exclusions regularly appear across various policies, for example: war terrorism...
Insurance & Reinsurance
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