The battle continues for business interruption insurance claims

In an earlier article, Nadia Maynard discussed the case that went to the High Court regarding insurance claims for business interruption arising out of the Covid-19 crisis.

Another test case starts today in the Federal Court before Justice Jagot, covering the policies of nine small business and across five insurers.  The five insurers are CGU, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, Guild, Chubb and Allianz.  The trial is set to last for a week and a half.

Another case is also being run at the same time involving QBE and will require the interpretation of Victorian property law, in the case where policies referred to the repealed Quarantine Act 1908 (Cth) and no reference to the current Biosecurity Act 2015 (Cth) in its place.

These cases will consider the interpretation of a pandemic and whether it is an excluded event under these policies, examine closely the exact policy wording, consider definitions and consider the effects of government-imposed lockdowns on small business operations.

It is expected that the decision will be released fairly swiftly, as any appeal will be heard by the Full Federal Court in the first week of November 2021.

Many insurers are waiting to pay out claims, until the decision in this second test case is known.

If you have business interruption insurance and were affected by lockdowns during 2020-2021, you should proceed to make a claim in accordance with the timeframes stipulated in your policy.  The ongoing nature of these cases should not affect the timeliness of making a claim.