Optus credit insurance policy held invalid for a second time

Trade receivables insurer Atradius has won an appeal in a wrangle with Optus over a credit insurance policy from 2007 that covered money owed to the telco by its customer Bill Express.

Bill Express owed Optus A$62 million when the former ceased trading in 2008. Bill Express had sold up to $6 million a week in pre-paid mobile phone airtime and was chronically late in shipping the funds to the telco.

Atradius and Optus have been in dispute over a credit insurance policy since that time. The policy provided a maximum cover of $27 million.

In June 2012, the Supreme Court of New South Wales held that Atradius was not liable under the policy, given a lack of full disclosure relating to payment plans entered into by Bill Express.

The Court of Appeal last month dismissed an appeal by Optus, finding no error in the original judgment and confirming the application of the Insurance Contracts Act 1984.

That section provides that where an insured fails to comply with its duty of disclosure, "the liability of the insurer in respect of a claim is reduced to the amount that would place the insurer in a position in which the insurer would have been if the failure had not occurred."