The Middle East Conflict: In the Grip of the Peril?
As events have swiftly unfolded in the Middle East over the past few days and the Iranian conflict has rapidly widened to more territories, commercial assets and property have inevitably become trapped in the war zone. With large swathes of airspace closed and shipping lanes blockaded, in each case for a potentially lengthy but indeterminate period, attention has necessarily turned to insurance. A recent landmark decision in the English Commercial Court, concerning the detention of Western-leased aircraft in Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, revisited one of the key insurance law principles of likely relevance to present events, namely the 'grip of the peril' doctrine and its interaction with notices of cancellation.
