Alice Carse
Alice specialises in insurance and reinsurance litigation and arbitration and is recommended in the legal directories as a leading junior. She has particular expertise in fire and property damage cases, as well as fire safety claims under the Building Safety Act 2022. Through her insurance work, Alice is instructed in construction, commercial and and professional negligence disputes.
Practice Areas
Panels
- Consulting Editorial Board
- Contributing Author
Qualified Year
- 2008
Membership
- Commercial Bar Association (former Executive Committee Member)
- British Insurance Law Association
- Professional Negligence Bar Association
- TECBAR
- Society of Construction Lawyers
Education
- BA (Hons) Jurisprudence - Oxford University 2006,
- Bar Vocational Course 2008,
- LLM London School of Economics 2009
2 Contributions by Alice Carse
PRACTICE NOTES
‘Damage’ versus ‘loss’ in insurance: judicial guidance and practical issues for property, business interruption and liability policies (contamination, data, latent defects, inherent vice, COVID‑19)
The concept of ‘damage’ in the insurance context
‘Damage’ is pivotal in defining the extent of cover offered across many forms of insurance. Typical policy classes where recovery depends on establishing property damage include:
marine cargo insurance
construction all risks (CAR) cover
household and commercial property insurance
business interruption insurance, particularly when paired with a traditional property policy
sue and labour or investigation expense cover under certain property policies
liability policies responding to the insured’s legal liability for physical damage to a third party’s property
The exact sense of ‘damage’ can shift, and it is always shaped by the context in which the word appears. There is no all‑purpose definition that applies in every case; as ever, the term must be construed by reference to the specific insurance policy in which it features.
A policy may or may not set out a bespoke definition, or, failing that, offer other contextual indicators of how ‘damage’ should be understood. In general, however, when the term...
Insurance & Reinsurance
PRACTICE NOTES
UK product liability and product recall insurance: scope, triggers (claims-made/occurrence), exclusions, defence costs, notification and aggregation, guarantee/efficacy cover, and recall costs, business interruption and evidential requirements
What is product liability insurance?
This cover indemnifies businesses for legal responsibility owed to end users of goods they make or supply. In general, such responsibility may stem from negligence (see: Donoghue v Stevenson), the strict regime under the Consumer Protection Act 1987 (CPA 1987), or contractual duties, whether express or implied by the Sale of Goods Act 1979, the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982, or the Consumer Rights Act 2015. At its core, the policy responds to claims for personal injury or physical damage to property. It typically excludes loss to the faulty item itself and purely economic loss. This insurance is not mandatory and no single ‘standard form’ applies; numerous packaged options exist, frequently bundled with public liability and/or general liability insurance. Larger insureds with elevated risk, or those making or selling unusual goods, can obtain bespoke wordings. The essential focus is liability linked to injury or damage to property, rather than harm to the product itself or financial loss alone. Packaged options often sit alongside public and/or general liability, with bespoke wordings for higher-risk or unusual products too.
Product liability cover—scope of cover
Insuring clause
Whilst there is no uniform insuring clause in product liability...
Insurance & Reinsurance
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