New Zealand Fire Service Commission v Legg - [2016] 3 NZLR 685

Insurance — Liability of Insurer — Exclusion clause — Fire — Costs incurred in fighting rural fire — Insured disposing of green waste on fire heap at lifestyle property — Heap re-igniting after three weeks — Obligation of insurers to indemnify insured for claims against them — Insurance policies for lifestyle property and landscaping business — Whether insurers able to rely on exclusion clauses — Reasonable care condition — Causation — Whether cause of fire connected to landscaping business — Concurrent cause of loss — Whether Wayne Tank principle applies — Construction and purpose of exclusion clause — Forest and Rural Fires Act 1977, s 43.

Insurance — Exclusion clause — Two step approach to Insurance Law Reform Act 1977 — Insurance restricted to farming activities — Whether activities that caused loss not connected to farming activities — Onus of proof on Insured — Insurance Law Reform Act 1977, s 11.

Contract — Interpretation — Insurance policy — Exclusion clause — Construction of exclusion clause — Intention of parties — Purpose.