In a highly anticipated judgment, the Commercial Court has ruled in favour of four plaintiff publicans(plaintiffs) in litigation initiated against FBD Insurance plc (FBD), heard together last October before Mr Justice McDonald, concerning the interpretation of business interruption insurance clauses.
The plaintiffs’ claims were selected as test cases with the central issue being whether losses arising from the government enforced closure of pubs due to COVID-19 in 2020 are covered under business interruption clauses under the plaintiffs’ public-house insurance policies with FBD (Policy).
The recent judgment of the Commercial Court in a number of business interruption insurance test cases has received widespread publicity. In this briefing, our expert team of litigation and insurance solicitors analyse the following issues in this comprehensive judgment and the judgment’s likely effects:
- The cover provided under the FBD business interruption clauses;
- The relevant “insured peril”;
- Issues surrounding causation; and
- Calculation of loss.
