The High Court has rejected a bid by a group of insurers to weigh in on a test case against COVID-19 related claims in business interruption policies, following a high stakes loss in the NSW Court of Appeal, which found an infectious disease exclusion did not apply.
A group representing insurers has filed another test case over pandemic coverage in business interruption policies, following a landmark loss in a test case concerning an infectious disease exclusion that could cost insurers $10 billion.
At least five law firms are investigating lawsuits, including class action proceedings, in the wake of a landmark test case on COVID-19 exclusions for business interruption cover.
The Insurance Council of Australia has asked the High Court to weigh in on its case against COVID-19 related claims in business interruption policies, following its high stakes loss in a ruling last month that found an infectious disease exclusion did not apply.
Insurers will face a flood of pandemic-related claims after an appeals court ruled in a test case brought by the Insurance Council that certain infectious disease exclusions in business interruption cover do not apply to coronavirus-related claims.
COVID-19 was clearly excluded from the business interruption insurance policy taken out by The Star, and a lawsuit seeking coverage for economic loss resulting from the pandemic was “misconceived”, a group of insurers has said.
Insurers for The Star have told a court that the casino’s lawsuit, which seeks to resolve threshold policy coverage issues in a bid to claim the losses it has suffered as a result of government restrictions enacted to stop the spread of COVID-19, is incomplete.
A court has ruled that a litigation funder backing an unsuccessful real estate lawsuit by two broke plaintiffs must cover the legal costs after finding that the funder’s goals in the case were “more to serve its own commercial and financial ends” than to assist its clients.