The owners of London’s ExCeL Centre have won a court case related to pandemic-related business interruption coverage, following an appeal by several insurers.
The decision could have broader implications for business owners who experienced financial losses during the COVID-19 outbreak.
The London International Exhibition Centre plc, which operates the ExCeL Centre, sought £16 million ($20.9 million) in a test case focusing on the interpretation of “at the premises” clauses in various insurance policies.
According to AM Best, these clauses were debated in the context of whether business closures due to the pandemic were covered under the policies. The ExCeL Centre had initially prevailed in 2023.
The law firm representing ExCeL Centre owners, Stewarts, stated that the ruling reinforced earlier judgments in favour of policyholders. The firm referenced the 2021 Supreme Court decision, brought by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which concluded that each occurrence of COVID-19 in the UK was a concurrent proximate cause of government actions, leading to business interruption losses.
The firm noted that the Court of Appeal’s ruling supports the Supreme Court’s earlier reasoning on concurrent causation in the FCA v Arch case. It added that this decision suggests the courts will be unlikely to retract from these principles in future cases.
Aviva declined to comment on the outcome, while Allianz, Zurich, and Chubb did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The ExCeL Centre’s win in the COVID-19 business interruption test case, which may impact hundreds of thousands of businesses affected during the pandemic, was closely watched. The case examined whether “at the premises” clauses in various policies covered losses due to pandemic-related business closures.
Judge Richard Jacobs of the UK Commercial Court previously ruled that the 2021 Supreme Court decision on disease clauses in insurance policies, initiated by the FCA, also applied to the “at the premises” coverage in question.
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