What is the FCA business interruption insurance court case about?
The FCA explains its business interruption insurance case on its website, but, at the basic level, it’s like any other court case – there’s a prosecutor (who is trying to prove wrongdoing) and defendants (who are accused of doing the wrongdoing).
In this case, the FCA is effectively the prosecutor – it’s trying to show that some of the UK’s business interruption insurers have been refusing claims when it should have been accepting them and paying out.
Of course, the FCA is not bringing the case for itself, but to help the countless small businesses across the UK who feel they’ve been screwed by their insurer and can’t afford the costs associated with legal action. Many of these contacted the FCA for help and the FCA took on the case.
As so many small businesses are potentially affected, two larger groups have also joined the action. One is the Night Time Industries Association, a membership group that represents the interests of independent bar, nightclub and restaurant owners, as well as others involved in the UK’s nightlife industries. The other is the Hiscox Action Group, a coalition of small businesses from various sectors who feel that their Hiscox business interruption insurance policies should have covered them for COVID-19 disruption, and whose claims have been rejected by Hiscox
In the defendant corner are eight insurance companies (Arch, Argenta, Ecclesiastical, Hiscox, MS Amlin, QBE, Royal & Sun Alliance, and Zurich) who are arguing that, for various reasons, there are perfectly legitimate grounds to reject the claims and they’ll prove that in court.
The case is scheduled to run across two weeks from Monday to Thursday (20-23 July and 27-30 July).
Anyone who wishes to follow the case closely can watch a livestream, hearings begin at 10am each day.
via https://www.AiUpNow.com/ by Alec Hawley, Khareem Sudlow
