Hospitality in a ‘race against time’ as the FCA prepares to file BI insurance high court action

Joining forces with UKHospitality ahead of court action to support the hospitality sector

The Financial Conduct Authority is moving quickly to file its action in the High Court to seek clarification on the interpretation of business interruption policy wording. The FCA released an update yesterday 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.

The FCA has given policy holders until 3pm on 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.

Taylor Wessing has partnered with trade association UKHospitality in relation to the FCA action. The team is led by commercial litigators Julian Randall and Katie Chandler, together with sector lead Richard Bursby. The team's expertise will support UKHospitality as it considers how the FCA court action impacts on the business interruption insurance claims of policy holders in the hospitality sector.

They 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.

Partner and head of the firm's hotels and leisure group, Richard Bursby said “Katie, Julian and I are delighted to be working with UKHospitality to ensure the hospitality sector's voice is heard. The FCA is moving at warp speed in its High Court application for clarification on the interpretation of business interruption insurance policy wording. While this is good news, policy holders have just days to review their policies against the FCA's representative sample.”

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."

UKHospitality is also supporting Black and White Hospitality’s crowdfunding venture to have hospitality cases reviewed for challenge.

The Taylor Wessing team working with UKHospitality is led by partners Katie Chandler, Julian Randall and Richard Bursby.