FBD decision on cover referred to European court

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) is to be asked to decide whether insurer FBD was entitled to impose an exclusion in a motor insurance policy on which it ultimately had to pay out €3m because of a High Court decision.

FBD had claimed it was entitled to impose a condition in a policy that a person insured on a van was not covered if they carried anyone in the back of the vehicle which was not designed or constructed with passenger seating.

A 19-year-old man, who was later made a ward of court and is now 35 years old, was one such passenger in a van which crashed into another vehicle in Co Louth in 1999.