Following the judgment of Calver J dated 17 May 2022, the Bank reinstated its application for permission to appeal before the Court of Appeal.

Males LJ dismissed the Bank’s application, determining that the proposed appeal had no real prospect of success. 

That was because there was “no sound basis” for the construction of the MII policy for which the Bank advocated, which construction produced “a highly implausible result” , that the Bank could recover its total indebtedness even when that was far in excess of the amount insured under owner’s war risks policy and far in excess of the value of the vessel.

It follows that the judgment of Calver J (now reported at [2022] 2 Lloyd’s Rep. 1) is the final word, a rare Commercial Court judgment on the scope of cover under MII policies.

Guy Blackwood KC and Ben Coffer were instructed for the successful MII underwriters by Jonathan Evans, Craig Boyle-Smith and Ingrid Hu of Kennedys.