Court of Appeal hears latest in Covid business interruption insurance appeal

Judges at the Court of Appeal are this week hearing the latest round of test cases over business interruption insurance policies triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s a legal tussle that started as soon as businesses in the UK were forced to shutter their operations due to the first government-imposed pandemic lockdown of 2020. Soon after the first lockdown, businesses claimed on their various BII polices and, in many cases, had their claims refused or put on hold due to complicated wording. This led to fast-tracked litigation brought by regulator the Financial Conduct Authority examining the wording of key BII policies across the insurance industry. Hearings took place remotely and, in January 2021, the Supreme Court produced a complicated ruling that backed many of the policyholders’ arguments and gave the insurers guidelines on policy wording. Since then, more than 10 other multi-claimant test cases have been rolling at much slower speed through the court process. Each of the cases focus on issues that can’t be solved with reference to the Supreme Court judgement. Today’s case arises from a claim made by the owners of the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Gatwick (Gatwick Investment Ltd) to its insurer Liberty Mutual Insurance Europe for losses incurred during the pandemic. Other linked claimants include the owner of department store Liberty, theatre company Ambassador Theatre Group, restaurant chain Pizza Express, entertainment venue Hollywood Bowl, pub company Fullers, hotelier Starboard Hotels and Bath Racecourse. It concerns so-called “non damage denial of access” clauses and “prevention of access (non damage)” clauses which apply when a business is unable to access its premises due to something other than damage to the property. In a High Court ruling a year ago, Mr Justice Jacobs found some of the clauses provided cover for losses arising from lockdowns. He also set limits of up to £2.5m “for any one loss”. One of the issues before the Court of Appeal this week is what the definition of “one loss” is. Lawyers for the insurers said at the hearing that today that thousand of claims hang on this point. Gatwick Investment Ltd T/A Crowne Plaza London Gatwick Airport and others v Liberty Mutual Insurance Europe SE