The message
from snipped-for-privacy@mailbolt.com contains these words:
- Not all non-disclosure is material
- Non-disclosure which is non-material may provide grounds for non-renewal of a contract or even for a discontinuation of a contract, but does not normally invalidate a claim if that has occurred.
- Even disclosure which is material does not necessarily invalidate a claim, though it may reduce the terms of the payment
No-one has said that material non-diclosure doesn't exist -- but we have discussed the matter of how material non-disclosure is normally handled.
No-one is arguing that in order to make an insurance contract voidable you need either a misrepresentation or a breach of warranty, but those are the circumstances in which an insurance company is likely to cease cover. In fact, when a problem is discovered part way through the insurance term and the insurers cease cover, the whole premium is not normally returned -- as in the case I mentioned relating to my own motor cover on one vehicle. In the real world it would normally be something pretty drastic to provoke a return of the whole premium and a regarding of the policy as void ab initio.