On 2nd November, the Supreme Court granted permission to appeal to all those who applied for it and set a date of 16th November for the fast-tracked appeal. It is expected to last four days and will be heard by video link.
Six of the eight insurers involved in the test case, RSA, Arch, Argenta, MS Amlin, Hiscox and QBE, the FCA and the Hiscox Action Group are appealing various parts of the judgment handed down by the High Court on 15th September, which largely found in favour of insureds.
The remaining two insurers, Zurich and Ecclesiastical, are not appealing as the High Court concluded in the judgment that losses associated with COVID-19 were not covered under their sample policy wordings. RSA, Arch, Argenta, MS Amlin, Hiscox and QBE will also not be appealing decisions linked to the Resilience, Eaton Gate Retail, and Eaton Gate Pubs and Restaurants policy wordings. They will instead focus on appealing the decisions reached in relation to the Cottagesure and Eaton Gate Commercial Combined policies.
The appeal has been listed earlier than expected which will hopefully speed up the resolution of these claims. As the FCA has said,
“we believe that this ‘leapfrog’ appeal to the Supreme Court is the fastest way to get legal clarity for all parties in the event that it is not possible to find a solution with insurers which resolves the outstanding issues, before the appeal takes place, to enable pay-outs on eligible claims”.
However, arguments in relation to policy wordings not covered by the test case will likely continue for months and months to come.
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