Exe Insurance would like to keep you updated with all information about the Test Case and what it means for our clients.
On 1 May 2020, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced it intended to obtain a court declaration to resolve uncertainty around whether certain non-damage business interruption insurance policies provide cover for losses arising because of COVID-19.
Shortly after The High Court handed down its judgment on the Test Case on 15 September 2020, then on 2 October 2020, a hearing took place during which the court heard the parties’ arguments on the appropriate declarations to make and granted the FCA, six of the insurers and one of the intervenors 1 certificates for a “leapfrog” appeal to the UK Supreme Court.
On 20 October 2020, the FCA made the final declarations and the relevant parties’ applications to appeal to the Supreme Court available on the FCA website.
On 2 November 2020, the Supreme Court granted permission to appeal to all those who had applied for it. The scope of the appeals covered some but not all the questions addressed by the High Court judgment, leaving some parts of the High Court judgment unchallenged.
The FCA later published the written cases for the appeals and the written cases responding to those appeals on its website on 11 November 2020. The appeal was heard from Monday 16 to Thursday 19 November 2020.
On 15 January 2021, the Supreme Court handed down its judgment on the appeal. There are no further avenues of appeal from the Supreme Court, so all rights of appeal have now been concluded in respect of the Test Case.
The judgment can be found here (www.fca.org.uk/firms/business-interruption-insurance)
We are aware many insurers are carefully considering the Supreme Court judgment, and any impact that this may have on claims and complaints under relevant Business Interruption policies potentially affected by the outcome of the Test Case.
Not all business interruption policies have been affected by the Test Case.
The Exe Insurance team felt the way in which the Supreme Court decision was reported by the general media was misleading as it gave the impression all policyholders of business interruption policies were able to claim, but this was not the case. We will however endeavour to continue to pursue claims that we believe are valid and obtain insurers final decisions.
If you believe or feel you have a valid claim, please do not hesitate to contact Exe Insurance on 01392 797733 or email admin@exe-insurance.co.uk
We will continue to provide updates to this page with further information on the Test Case and appeal in due course.
