A High Court judgment last week might have provided a lifeline to companies who have had to close due to the coronavirus pandemic but received little help from their insurers. Clive Zietman, Head of Commercial Litigation, spoke to the Metro.
Many companies bought policies that were supposed to cover them for ‘business interruption’. They believed these policies should pay out when they had to close their doors due to infection or an order from a public authority, but those who tried to claim were told the cover didn’t apply to pandemics.
The High Court heard a test case last week brought by UK regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) aiming to bring clarity to what was covered and what was not. In many cases, it found with the regulator.
However, Clive says that although the FCA ruled on 21 sample policy wordings, different texts will mean lots more decisions.
“The case will give rise to litigation on specific policies and no doubt insurers may, in individual cases, rely on other defences such as failure to make full disclosure at the time the policy was taken out or failure to notify in good time,” he says.
To read the full article in The Metro, please visit – Progress: How firms affected by Covid-19 could be eligible for some money back on their policy
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