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Liability Insurance Law (LAWS90025)
Graduate courseworkPoints: 12.5Not available in 2024
Overview
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Insurance is a cornerstone of effective risk transfer. It is often critical to the viability of commercial enterprises and transactions. That said, insurance contracts and arrangements have become increasingly complex, and specialised knowledge is required to understand their operation and limitations. This subject will provide an in-depth understanding of liability insurance, which indemnifies insureds against liability to third parties, and comprises a large part of the insurance market. It will examine the roles and obligations of participants in the insurance industry, different types of liability insurance, key principles of the common law regarding insurance, and legislative intervention, especially the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth), including recent amendments to that Act.
Principal topics include:
- The structure and operation of contracts of liability insurance, and the main forms of liability insurance, including professional indemnity insurance, public and products liability insurance, and directors’ and officers’ insurance
- The operation of the global insurance industry and the roles of various insurance industry participants, such as underwriters (including Lloyd's syndicates), excess insurers, co-insurers, reinsurers, captives, underwriting agents, claims officers, lawyers, insurance brokers and loss adjusters
- An overview of the legislative and regulatory framework for the Australian insurance industry
- The construction of insuring clauses and extensions
- The construction of exclusion clauses and conditions, including cross-liability, severability and non-imputation clauses
- The operation and effect of the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth) and its interplay with the laws of contract, equity and tort, on matters including:
- The duty of utmost good faith
- Misrepresentation and non-disclosure
- Notification of claims and circumstances
- Section 54 of the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth) and remedies for breach of insurance contracts
- Cancellation of insurance contracts
- Rights of third party beneficiaries
- Subrogation
- Double insurance
- An analysis of issues requiring further legislative reform.
Intended learning outcomes
A student who has successfully completed this subject should be able to:
- Analyse the language of liability insurance contracts, including insuring clauses, extensions, exclusions and conditions found in those contracts
- Explain key common law and equitable principles affecting liability insurance contracts including subrogation, double insurance, waiver, estoppel and election
- Demonstrate specialised knowledge of various forms of liability insurance contracts such as professional indemnity insurance, public and products liability insurance, and directors' and officers' insurance
- Apply knowledge of the roles performed by participants in the insurance industry, such as underwriters (including Lloyd's syndicates), excess insurers, co-insurers, reinsurers, captives, underwriting agents, claims officers, lawyers, insurance brokers and loss adjusters
- Apply knowledge of the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth) and its interface with the common law and equity, particularly concerning the duty of utmost good faith, misrepresentation and non-disclosure, rights of third party beneficiaries, notification of claims and circumstances, and subrogation
- Critically evaluate the effectiveness of the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth) and the common law, and articulate arguments regarding the need for legislative reform to specialist audiences
Last updated: 31 January 2024
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
Corequisites
Non-allowed subjects
Recommended background knowledge
Applicants without legal qualifications should note that subjects are offered in the discipline of law at an advanced graduate level. While every effort will be made to meet the needs of students trained in other fields, concessions will not be made in the general level of instruction or assessment. Most subjects assume the knowledge usually acquired in a degree in law (LLB, JD or equivalent). Applicants should note that admission to some subjects in the Melbourne Law Masters will be dependent upon the individual applicant’s educational background and professional experience.
Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)
The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.
Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home
Last updated: 31 January 2024
Assessment
Description | Timing | Percentage |
---|---|---|
Take-home examination
| 11 - 14 August 2023 | 100% |
Hurdle requirement: A minimum of 75% attendance. Note: the attendance hurdle does not apply when the subject is delivered online, however attendance at all live online sessions is expected. | Throughout the teaching period | N/A |
Last updated: 31 January 2024
Quotas apply to this subject
Dates & times
Not available in 2024
What do these dates mean
Visit this webpage to find out about these key dates, including how they impact on:
- Your tuition fees, academic transcript and statements.
- And for Commonwealth Supported students, your:
- Student Learning Entitlement. This applies to all students enrolled in a Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP).
Subjects withdrawn after the census date (including up to the ‘last day to withdraw without fail’) count toward the Student Learning Entitlement.
Additional delivery details
This subject has a quota of 30 students.
Enrolment is on a 'first in' basis. Waitlists are maintained for subjects that are fully subscribed.
Students should note priority of waitlisted places in subjects will be given as follows:
- To currently enrolled Graduate Diploma and Masters students with a satisfactory record in their degree
- To other students enrolling on a single subject basis, eg Community Access Program (CAP) students, cross-institutional study and cross-faculty study.
Please refer to the Melbourne Law Masters website for further information about the management of subject quotas and waitlists.
Melbourne Law School may reserve places in a subject for incoming international cohorts or where a subject is core to a specialisation with limited alternate options.
Last updated: 31 January 2024
Further information
- Texts
Prescribed texts
Specialist materials will be made available via the LMS in the pre-teaching period.
- Related Handbook entries
This subject contributes to the following:
Type Name Course Master of Commercial Law Course Master of Laws Course Master of Banking and Finance Law Course Graduate Diploma in Banking and Finance Law Course Graduate Diploma in Construction Law Course Juris Doctor Course Master of Construction Law - Links to additional information
- Available through the Community Access Program
About the Community Access Program (CAP)
This subject is available through the Community Access Program (also called Single Subject Studies) which allows you to enrol in single subjects offered by the University of Melbourne, without the commitment required to complete a whole degree.
Entry requirements including prerequisites may apply. Please refer to the CAP applications page for further information.
Additional information for this subject
If required, please contact law-masters@unimelb.edu.au for subject coordinator approval.
- Available to Study Abroad and/or Study Exchange Students
This subject is available to students studying at the University from eligible overseas institutions on exchange and study abroad. Students are required to satisfy any listed requirements, such as pre- and co-requisites, for enrolment in the subject.
Last updated: 31 January 2024