CGU Insurance Limited v Porthouse

Insurance – Professional indemnity - Barrister's liability policy conforming with Legal Profession Act 1987 (NSW) - "Known Circumstance" exclusion - "Known Circumstance" defined to include any fact, situation or circumstance which a reasonable person in the insured's professional position would have thought, before the policy began, might result in someone making an allegation against an insured in respect of a liability that might be covered by the policy - Denial of liability by insurer - Meaning of exclusion clause - Relevance of what insured actually thought - Whether exclusion clause operated by reference to an objective standard.

Legal practitioners – Barristers - Barrister's liability policy conforming to Legal Profession Act 1987 (NSW) - "Known Circumstance" exclusion - Meaning of exclusion clause - Whether operated by reference to objective standard - Whether a reasonable person in the insured barrister's professional position would have thought a fact, situation or circumstance known to him might result in someone making an allegation in respect of a liability that might be covered by the policy - Relevance of insured's state of mind - Proper approach to construction of the exclusion clause - Whether error on the part of primary judge demonstrated.

Words and phrases – "a reasonable person in the insured's professional position", "would have thought might result in".

Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth) – ss 21, 40(3). Legal Profession Act 1987 (NSW), s 38R.