Stonegate v MS Amlin & Ors
Commercial Court Claim no. CL-2021-000161
Background
Fenchurch Law is representing Stonegate Pub Company Limited in its claim for Covid-19 business interruption losses against three insurers: MS Amlin, Zurich, and Liberty Mutual.
Stonegate owns and operates over 4,500 public houses, bars, restaurants and other hospitality businesses in the UK and, like all hospitality businesses, suffered interruption and interference to its business as a result of the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the government’s actions in response.
The three insurers in the case provided coverage for 760 of Stonegate’s establishments under a policy issued using the Marsh Resilience wording, which was one of the representative sample of wordings considered by the Court in the FCA test case. The test case confirmed that the Resilience wording was capable of responding to business interruption losses arising from the Covid-19 pandemic under three insuring clauses, and insurers have not challenged those findings. Coverage is therefore not in dispute.
The Issues in the Case
Stonegate’s case focuses on the limits of liability available to meet Stonegate’s losses, which itself turns on four issues of principle:
(i) Aggregation
The case will determine how Stonegate’s losses suffered at different locations, at different times, and in different ways are to be aggregated for the purposes of the relevant (sub)-limits of liability. Insurers contend that Stonegate’s losses are to be aggregated as one ‘Single Business Interruption Loss’, and that its claim for Business Interruption Loss is therefore subject to a single (sub)-limit of liability of £2.5m. Stonegate claims that it is entitled to claim multiple (sub)-limits of liability. The outcome of the issue will depend in part on the court’s determination of the meaning of the term “occurrence” in the context of Stonegate’s policy.
(ii) Causation of Post Policy Period Losses
The policy provides a Maximum Indemnity Period of 36 months. Stonegate, like all hospitality operators, continued to suffer loss after the expiry of its policy period. The case will determine the applicable indemnity period(s) to Stonegate’s claim, and specifically how long the indemnity period extends after the expiry of the policy period.
(iii) Additional Increased Costs of Working
In addition to cover for Business Interruption Loss, the policy provides cover for Additional Increased Costs of Working. The case will determine the limit of liability under this cover, and the nature of the costs that may be claimed.
(iv) Government Support
Insurers contend that as a matter of law and/or the proper construction and/or application of the policy, governmental support (including Coronavirus Job Retentions Scheme payments or “furlough” payments, and Business Rates Relief) is to be taken into account for the insurers’ benefit when calculating any Business Interruption Loss and/or other sums recoverable under the policy. Stonegate denies that insurers are entitled to make any deduction from its claim in respect of these kinds of governmental support.
The respective positions of the parties are set out in detail in the statements of case, which are documents of public record, and may be downloaded below:
Updates
Because of the relevance of these issues to many other policyholders with unresolved Covid-19 business interruption claims, including those insured under the Marsh Resilience wording as well as those under other policy wordings, Stonegate recognises that the outcome of the case is of significant interest to many market stakeholders. Fenchurch Law will therefore share regular updates on the progress of the case.
Current Procedural Status
The case is currently listed for a Case Management Conference on 29 October. At that hearing, the Court will hear the parties’ proposals for the management of the case, and may give directions as to timetable, procedure and any other preliminary matters.
A further update will be posted sharing any Order granted by the Court following the CMC.
Ristorante Limited t/a Bar Massimo v Zurich¬ [2021]: – Food for thought about the questions in insurance applications
This recent High Court decision considers the proper construction of questions put to an insured in insurance applications, and the circumstances in which they can amount to waiver.
Background
Ristorante Limited (“Ristorante”) was the leaseholder of a bar and restaurant in Glasgow (“the Property”). Ristorante took out an insurance policy with Zurich in 2015, which renewed in 2016 and 2017 (“the Policy”). Prior to inception of the Policy, and at each renewal, Ristorante confirmed that the following state of affairs was true:
“No owner, director, business partner or family member involved with the business:
i) ...
ii)...
iii) Has ever been the subject of a winding up order or company/individual voluntary arrangement with creditors, or been placed into administration, administrative receivership or liquidation
iv) ...
(“the Insolvency Question”)
On 3 January 2018, a significant fire broke out at the Property. After being notified of a claim, Zurich purported to avoid the Policy on the basis that Ristorante failed to make a fair presentation of the risk. In particular, it asserted that Ristorante misrepresented/failed to disclose that three of its directors had been directors of companies which previously entered liquidation (“the Other Insolvencies”), and that cover would not have been provided had they been disclosed.
Issues
There were two issues for the Court to determine at a trial of preliminary issues:
- Whether, on the true construction of the Insolvency Question, there was a misrepresentation/non-disclosure; and
- Whether, by asking the Insolvency Question in the way that it did, Zurich waived disclosure of the Other Insolvencies.
The Decision
The Judge, Mr Justice Snowden, found for Ristorante on both issues.
On the first issue, the Judge observed that the Insolvency Question limited its enquiry to any “owner, director, business partner or family member involved with the business”. There was no express enquiry in relation to any corporate bodies, and, accordingly, a person completing the Insolvency Question would not come to it “with any predisposition to think that the Defendant was interested in that information.”
The Judge also relied on cases such as R&R Developments v AXA [2010] 2 All ER (Comm) 527 (see our previous article on the case here) and Doheny v New India Assurance [2005] 1 All ER (Comm), both of which also addressed the proper construction of insolvency questions. The Judge found that a reasonable insurer in 2015 would be expected to know of those decisions, and to have understood the importance, if it wished to make enquiries of the insolvency of companies with which the insurer’s directors were involved, of using language which referred to those companies.
Zurich made a number of further arguments about the correct interpretation of the Insolvency Question, which included an argument that the words “has ever been the subject of” were sufficient, without more, to require disclosure of companies with which Ristorante’s directors were involved. Unsurprisingly, the Judge rejected that construction, noting that it made neither grammatical nor legal sense.
Zurich also said that, regardless of the precise wording used, a reasonable broker would have understood the Insolvency Question to mean that the Other Insolvencies were material facts which needed to be disclosed. However, absent any evidence on what a “hypothetical reasonable broker” would have done, the Judge rejected that argument.
On the second issue, the Judge, having regard to the authorities on the effect of asking a limited question, held that Zurich waived disclosure of the Other Insolvencies. Although Zurich contended that past insolvencies was a relevant moral hazard from the perspective of an insurer and “certainly information about which they would ordinarily expect to be told”, the Other Insolvencies related to a different set of persons identified in the Insolvency Question. Therefore, it was reasonable for Ristorante to infer that Zurich had no interest in them.
Summary
Ristorante v Zurich is another in a recent run of policyholder friendly decisions, and a timely reminder that Insurers’ attempts to re-write questions in insurance applications, when doing so would require a completely different meaning to be given to them, will be impermissible.
Alex Rosenfield is a Senior Associate at Fenchurch Law
