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Nearly 10 years on, English rugby finally has a victory related to the 2015 Rugby World Cup. In FM Conway Ltd v Rugby Football Union,^[1] a company contracted by the English Rugby Football Union (the RFU) for maintenance works at Twickenham tried to rely on the fact it was co-insured to prevent the RFU and the insurer from claiming damages. The English Court of Appeal (the Court) fended off the contractor’s claims, finding that it lacked commercial sense to suggest that a party could avoid liability for its own defective work simply because it was co-insured.

As the Court notes, co-insurance in the construction industry is common and can potentially create difficulty. The decision provides useful commentary on how parties can work out who is being insured and for what.