Fenchurch Law, the UK\u2019s leading firm for insurance policyholders, has issued a warning to brokers to ensure their clients file any Covid-19 business interruption (BI) claims now, before they are time-barred.<\/p>\n
Five years on from the pandemic, experts at Fenchurch Law are highlighting that the limitation period for Covid-19 BI claims will expire in March 2026, leaving affected businesses with less than a year to act.<\/p>\n
Over the last five years, a series of high-profile battles between insurers and policyholders in the UK over BI wordings have expanded the scope of BI policies. The result is that policyholders now have more potential opportunities to receive compensation for the loss of business during the early months of the pandemic.<\/p>\n
Fenchurch Law\u2019s Managing Partner, Joanna Grant, warns that brokers need to act now to give their clients the best chance of success:<\/p>\n
\u201cMany industries were decimated by the pandemic that swept the world in 2020, with few more severely impacted than the hospitality industry, the long periods of lockdown taking a significant toll.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring the last five years, we\u2019ve fought for clients to get a fair outcome from their insurers.\u00a0 Though the pandemic was unprecedented, insurance policy wordings should be fair, proportionate and transparent, and we have found time and time again, that this was not the case. We\u2019re still coming up against legal challenges regarding how to apply policy wordings, most recently the Non-Damage Denial of Access appeal brought by Liberty, which found for policyholders in holding that in composite policies, ‘any one loss’ limits applied separately to each policyholder rather than in aggregate across all policyholders.\u00a0 We are also involved in new cases being issued in court, including most recently a claim brought by the owner of the\u00a0Franco Manca\u00a0chain of pizzerias against QIC in respect of their Covid-19 losses.<\/p>\n
For some businesses, there may be a long road ahead, so we urge brokers start talking to clients now, long before the liability period runs out.\u201d<\/p>\n