Assignment Topic:

Students should refer to relevant case law and legislation in their response.

Question 1 (25 marks)

On March 2, 2020, Brad took out a contract of insurance on his rare 2016 Nissan Skyline 'Nismo'. The insuring agent, RTO, specialises in performance and prestige vehicles. The proposal documents provided by the insurer PVO asked various questions about important risk factors such as accidents and insurance claims, traffic offences and licence suspension.

Brad completed the forms and RTO forwarded the forms to PVO which accepted the forms as forming a valid insurance contract. However, Brad had omitted some information from the forms. In response to a question about prior insurance claims, Brad only disclosed one prior insurance claim for a 'not at fault' accident. In fact, Brad had been involved in a further four accidents in the previous five years. One of these claims was for an 'at fault' collision three years prior. Further, in relation to his driving offence record he disclosed only one ticket for using a mobile phone while driving. However, he neglected to mention having had his licence suspended four years prior because of an excessive speeding offence. Most of the relevant sections of the form relating to the driving history and additional claims or accident were left blank. Nevertheless, PVO accepted the forms and insured Brad, effective from March 5, 2020. An accident occurred on April 6, 2020 where the vehicle was extensively damaged to the value of $35,500. At that time, Brad relied on his insurance cover but was denied.

Required:Identify the legal issues arising with reference to insurance law. Upon identifying the legal issues, provide advice to Brad. Throughout your answer, you should support your discussion with reference to sections of the relevant legislation and associated case law.