This page provides a timeline of key events in the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA)’s business interruption test case and some helpful links to further resources.
Timeline of key events
| 1 May 2020 | The FCA announced that it would commence court proceedings to test how certain business interruption insurance policies respond to claims arising from COVID 19. The purpose of the court proceedings was to provide clarity in relation to how certain business interruption policies and wordings should be interpreted and whether they cover losses arising from the COVID 19 pandemic. |
|---|---|
| 15 September 2020 | The High Court handed down its judgment. While different conclusions were reached in respect of each wording, the Court found in favour of policyholders on the majority of the key issues arising out of the wordings considered in the representative sample. |
| 2 October 2020 | The High Court granted the FCA, and the defendant insurers "leapfrog" certificates to appeal to the Supreme Court (bypassing the Court of Appeal) to get legal clarity on the interpretation of some important elements of the High Court judgment. |
| 15 January 2021 | The Supreme Court handed down its judgment on the issues which six insurers and the FCA had brought on appeal from the High Court. The judgment has substantially allowed the FCA’s appeals and dismissed the insurers appeals and is generally good news for those businesses whose wordings were amongst those considered. The Supreme Court’s decision is final: there is no further avenue for appeal in respect of those areas considered in the appeal. Other areas of coverage may be the subject of separate litigation. |
Where can I get more information?
Willis Towers Watson has been tracking developments in order to be able to support our clients. Please do not hesitate to contact your account manager should you have any questions that you would like to discuss.
- A ‘policy checker’ which can be used to find out if your insurance policy may cover business interruption losses arising from COVID 19 can be found here - https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/business-interruption-insurance/policy-checker
- General FAQs for policyholders with business interruption insurance can be found here -https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/business-interruption-insurance-policy-checker/general-faqs-policyholders
- For latest updates from the FCA - https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/business-interruption-insurance
Your usual account team are on hand to answer any queries you may have. Please do not hesitate to contact them.
