Reasonable care requirements under property insurance policies: A comparative analysis of the United Kingdom and the United States

In the absence of fraud, gross negligence, or misconduct by the insured, neither negligence nor the lack of due care may be used in the US as an insurer's defense. UK courts apply the common law theory of negligence to property insurance contracts, and an insured has a duty to act as if uninsured. In the US, when conduct is not specifically forbidden by the terms of a contract, an insured's contributory negligence does not generally bar recovery. Policies specify precisely what an insured can or cannot do in a particular circumstance. In the UK, the policy condition requiring reasonable care is an all-encompassing condition that applies to all of the insured's behavior toward the property. A recent decision by a UK Court of Appeal in the Sofi case, however, indicates that the degree of recklessness that would justify an insurer in rejecting a claim because of a breach of reasonable care condition must amount to gross or blatant negligence.