Insurance claims over coronavirus | High Court ruling

If your insurance company said you were not covered for Coronavirus under your policy, this is of great interest.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has brought a case on behalf of a number of UK businesses who’s insurance companies had said they were not ‘covered’ for Covid-19.

The FCA argued that policies which cover firms for business interruption from ‘infectious’ or  ‘notifiable’ diseases should pay out for COVID-19 disruption. Similarly, it argued that  firms with clauses such as “denial of access” or “public authority closures or restrictions” should also be eligible for payouts.

Yahoo Finance! reported also that: “Around 370,000 firms could be affected by Tuesday’s ruling, which is part of a test case looking at key issues around firms’ entitlements to payouts over the impact of the government-imposed lockdown.”

Mel Stride, Conservative MP and chair of the Treasury Committee added that “This ruling will provide hope for many businesses that have been put through the mill whilst seeking insurance payouts.” However he added: “the devil will be in the detail”.

Following the court decision, Christopher Woolard of the FCA said: “We are pleased that the court has substantially found in favour of the arguments we presented on the majority of the key issues…” adding: “Coronavirus is causing substantial loss and distress to businesses and many are under immense financial strain to stay afloat.”

If you have been refused Covid-19 related business interruption by your insurance company?

Go back to them quoting this test case and ask them to revisit your claim eligibility:

https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/corporate/bi-insurance-test-case-judgment.pdf