5th February 2024
The Lawyer‘s Top 10 Appeals of 2024 has been released reflecting some of the key issues facing the legal industry and the world today.
Featured in the list of cases is ‘London International Exhibition Centre v Allianz and others’. The case, which was one of The Lawyer’s Top 20 cases of 2023, will be heard in the Court of Appeal this year, after its first hearing determined that insurers were liable to pay out business interruption costs linked to venues’ use for emergency medical services during the Covid-19 pandemic. After the London International Exhibition (ExCel) Centre was temporarily converted into a Nightingale Hospital in 2020, the centre invoked an insurance claim for disease on the premises, which eventually evolved into a £16m legal claim. The insurers contended the claim was invalid, as the premises had not been closed, but repurposed.
ExCel was joined by several other claimants, including bars and restaurants, to eventually win a ruling in their favour on the 16 June 2023, with considerable consequences for insurance companies in the aftermath of the pandemic. ExCel’s victory in the Commercial Court unlocked access for potentially hundreds of thousands of policyholders across the UK whose “on the premises” disease clauses remained unpaid. Consequently, the insurance companies in the ExCel case quickly launched an appeal to reverse the ruling, with June’s hearing set to finally determine the insurers liability.
For the appellant/respondent, Ageas Insurance
4 Pump Court’s Aidan Christie KC and Anna Hoffmann, instructed by Keoghs partner Richard Houseago
For the appellant/respondent, AXA Insurance
4 Pump Court’s Michael Davie KC and Martyn Naylor, instructed by DAC Beachcroft partner Tom Davison
View the full article here.
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