I.A.(MR) common mistakes
I.A.(MR) · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Treating insurable interest as identical to ownership when answering questions about who may claim under a marine policy, so the candidate rules that only the registered owner can recover.
Candidates carry over everyday assumptions about property rights and do not separate the statutory test of insurable interest from title; they also forget that interest must exist at the time of loss for marine claims.
What to do instead
Build a one-page matrix of insurable interest tests (at inception vs at time of loss, indemnity principle, contingent and partial interests) and practise classifying parties such as buyer, seller, carrier, mortgagee and freight earner against it.
Describing the doctrine of utmost good faith and disclosure as a general duty of 'telling the truth' without distinguishing material facts, facts the insurer ought to know, and the effect of non-disclosure versus misrepresentation.
Textbook summaries blur the two concepts, and candidates answer from memory of the phrase rather than the legal elements and remedies.
What to do instead
Write out side-by-side definitions with a worked example of each (innocent non-disclosure, negligent misrepresentation, fraudulent misrepresentation) and state the remedy for each before attempting scenario questions.
Confusing the roles and liabilities of the assured, broker, agent and insurer when answering questions on the chain of placing and claims handling, for example saying a broker can settle a claim.
The parties appear together in process descriptions and candidates learn the flow of a placement without learning the authority limits of each party.
What to do instead
Draw the placement and claims chain and annotate each party with their duties, authority and liability; check every answer names the party with legal authority to act.
Mixing up particular average, general average, salvage charges and sue and labour expenses when classifying a loss, and therefore mis-stating who bears the cost.
All four involve expenditure or sacrifice during a voyage and the terms share vocabulary; candidates classify by the size of the loss rather than by the nature of the act and the peril.
What to do instead
Learn a decision tree: was the act voluntary and for the common safety (general average), a reasonable effort to avert loss under the policy (sue and labour), recovery by third parties (salvage), or accidental partial damage (particular average)? Apply it to ten short fact patterns.
Applying the principle of proximate cause by choosing the last event in a chain rather than the dominant, efficient cause, so a loss following a chain that began with an excluded peril is wrongly treated as covered.
Candidates read a narrative chronologically and assume the final event governs, and they under-weight the effect of exceptions and warranties in the chain.
What to do instead
For each practice scenario, list every event in sequence, mark which are perils insured against and which are exclusions, then state the dominant cause and justify it in one sentence before selecting an answer.
Treating marine warranties (especially the implied warranties of seaworthiness and legality, and express navigation or class warranties) as conditions precedent in every case without noting where breach discharges the insurer from liability from the date of breach versus where it only gives a defence.
Warranty rules differ between legal regimes and between hull and cargo practice, and candidates apply a single remembered rule to all questions.
What to do instead
Tabulate warranty type, whether it is implied or express, who must comply, and the consequence of breach, and note which regime the question is set in before answering.
Answering cargo questions with hull concepts, for example applying perils of the seas to a cargo policy without addressing the Institute Cargo Clauses' listed risks, or forgetting that cargo cover attaches from the time goods leave the warehouse named in the policy.
The same marine vocabulary appears in hull and cargo syllabuses and candidates revise both together without separating the clause sets.
What to do instead
Keep separate revision sheets for hull and cargo, each headed by the applicable clause set, attachment and termination points, exclusions and duration, and answer only from the relevant sheet.
Ignoring the duration and termination provisions of the cargo clauses, such as the transit clause, the 60-day limit after discharge, and the effect of delay, deviation or a change of voyage on cover.
These are short clauses buried in the policy and candidates focus on the list of insured perils; they also assume cover continues until delivery at destination.
What to do instead
Memorise the attachment, transit and termination timeline with the day counts, then test it against scenarios involving transhipment, storage, delay and forwarding expenses.
Underwriting cargo risks by premium and destination only, without assessing packing, stowage, mode and route, carrier quality, transit duration, and the effect of the declared basis of valuation (CIF plus expected profit).
Candidates concentrate on rating tables and forget that cargo underwriting is a risk assessment exercise; valuation and declaration terms are treated as paperwork.
What to do instead
Practise writing a short underwriting note for sample consignments covering commodity, packing, conveyance, route, duration, carrier and valuation, and identify the terms and conditions each factor drives.
In loss assessment and claims answers, stating a settlement figure without showing the basis of calculation, or applying the measure of indemnity incorrectly for partial loss, total loss, salvage realisation and under-insurance.
Candidates jump to a number under time pressure and do not set out the agreed value, the measure of indemnity, deductions for salvage and excess, and the subrogation position.
What to do instead
Adopt a fixed layout for every claims answer: policy basis and sum insured, insured value, nature of loss, measure of indemnity applied, deductions, salvage and subrogation, then the net figure; mark the layout in practice and follow it in the exam.