High Court ruling on Business Interruption

Update on a legal ruling in relation to business interruption policies and Covid-19

In a judgment published on 16 June 2023 the High Court considered the correct interpretation of certain policies that provided cover for business interruption losses caused by an occurrence of a case of a notifiable disease at the insured premises. The policy wordings considered by the Court included extensions within the Ageas “Commercial Guard – Shopkeepers” and “Commercial Guard – Leisure” policies. Other policies issued by Ageas also contained extensions that provided this cover, including “Commercial Guard – Homeworkers & Office”, and various scheme wordings.

The Court found that policyholders with extensions of this type may, in principle, be able to recover business interruption losses caused by government restrictions imposed in response to Covid-19 if they can prove that there was an occurrence of Covid-19 at the insured premises prior to the imposition of those restrictions.

A copy of the judgment can be found here:  https://www.judiciary.uk/judgments/london-international-exhibition-centre-v-royal-sun-alliance-insurance/

The judgment may be appealed, and if it is we will provide details on this website of the outcome of any appeal at the appropriate time.

We are reviewing any relevant claims that have been submitted to us and will be writing to our customers and brokers to inform them of the outcome.