An insurer's authorisation of repairs to a vehicle does not constitute an irrevocable election to accept liability under the policy where the loss falls outside the policy cover. Authorising repairs is a method of discharging an obligation, not the exercise of a right, and therefore cannot ground an election between inconsistent rights. There is no independent doctrine of waiver operating as a matter of substantive law beyond election, estoppel, and contract.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 13 later cases that cite this judgment.
3 of the 13 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.