Hospitality businesses are in a ‘race against time’ as the FCA prepares to file business interruption insurance high court action as it seeks comments from hospitality owners by 3pm on Friday 5th June.
The Financial Conduct Authority has just released an update which identified the representative sample of policy wordings to be examined in the test case, as well as the insurers who have agreed to be involved in the action and it has given policy holders until 3pm Friday 5th June to comment on the representative sample.
This has triggered a trio of hospitality heavyweights to call on policy holders in the sector who have had their business interruption claims rejected, to check the wording of their policies against the FCA’s sample , to ensure their wording is captured in the test case and the interests of the sector are fully represented.
UKHospitality are calling on hospitality businesses to act without delay, to provide details of their policy wording that might fall outside of the FCA’s 17 representative sample of policy wordings, announced on Monday. The insurance sector has rejected the vast majority of hospitality firms’ claims against business interruption policies which were taken out in good faith, leaving many companies on the brink of financial ruin.
The industry body is already supporting Black and White Hospitality’s crowdfunding venture to have hospitality cases reviewed for challenge, but have now also partnered with leading international law firm, Taylor Wessing in relation to the FCA action.
Rob Atkinson, lawyer at Black & White Hospitality, said, “We have been deluged with policies but now have this last chance to widen the scope of the court action – I urge any hospitality business that thinks it has a relevant policy to send it to us.”
Kate Nicholls, CEO of UKH added: “So many stakeholders have come together on this crucial matter. We now have a final sprint towards the deadline, to make sure that hospitality’s insurance plight is properly heard. A central ask of UKH’s #Fair4Hospitalty campaign is a resolution to insurance claims. With the support of leading law firm, Taylor Wessing, and Black & White Hospitality, we are urging all hospitality businesses to get in touch, so the industry’s voice is heard and any relevant wording not covered by the proposed test case is included.”.”
If your claim has been rejected, check your policy against the FCA’s representative sample here https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/corporate/bi-insurance-test-case-proposed-representative-sample-of-policy-wordings.pdf and if you feel that yours should be included in the FCA’s test case, or for more information, email cv19@ukhospitality.org.uk with details.
To donate to the crowdfunding initiative, please visit https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/hospitality-business-interruption-action or visit www.hospitalitybiaction.com