London ExCel venue wins landmark Covid-19 BI appeal
Ruling could help thousands of other policyholders
The UK Court of Appeal has ruled in favour of policyholders and the owner of London’s ExCel conference and exhibition centre in their dispute with insurers over business interruption (BI) Covid-19 claims. The decision could help thousands of other policyholders.
The judge on Friday dismissed the insurers’ appeals and upheld the decision handed down in the June 2023 test case, which examined ‘at the premises’ clauses in BI policies and found that policyholders were entitled to claims for losses when their business closed during the pandemic.
The London ExCel International Exhibition Centre was chosen as the lead claimant in its £16m claim for non-damage BI losses in a series of six linked cases, which included the owners of Pizza Express.
Lead insurer RSA settled its share of the London International Exhibition Centre’s claim after the Commercial Court’s ruling in June last year, but nine other insurers – including Allianz, Aviva, AXA, Zurich, Chubb and HDI – took the case to appeal to challenge the premise of the original verdict.
Representing the London International Exhibition Centre, Stewarts Law’s Aaron Le Marquer and James Breese said the Court of Appeal judgement consolidated policyholders’ success in establishing coverage for non-damage losses caused by the pandemic lockdown.
“It remains to be seen whether any of the insurers will seek permission to appeal further to the Supreme Court. However, it might be considered that given the comprehensive panoply of arguments marshalled by the nine insurers in support of their appeals, all of which were rejected by the Court of Appeal, room for further argument may be limited,” they said.
Le Marquer and Breese added that the decision further showed the courts will be “reluctant to disapply or row back from” principles set out by the Supreme Court in the 2021 test case brought by UK regulator the FCA.
A further appeal brought by insurers, led by Liberty Mutual, in the BI claim brought by Bath Racecourse is due to be heard in January next year. It will examine whether policyholders should pass on government benefits, such as furlough payments, handed out in the pandemic to their insurers.
