FCA Business Interruption test case update – CMC to be livestreamed on 16 June

The Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) have today published a further update on the progress of its High Court test case concerning coverage for Covid-19 related losses under Business Interruption (“BI”) insurance policies, including the livestream of a Case Management Conference tomorrow 16 June 2020.

Proceedings were commenced last week in the High Court, with the relevant court documents published on the FCA’s dedicated BI insurance webpage (see our update here: link; and our previous update explaining the test case here: link). This included draft questions for determination by the Court and assumed facts, alongside an updated list of affected insurers and BI policy wordings. The FCA have said this list is not final and they expect to publish a list of all the relevant insurers and wordings that may be impacted by the test case in early July.

The FCA has now confirmed that a Case Management Conference (“CMC”) will be held tomorrow, 16 June 2020. The hearing will be livestreamed to the public and can be viewed by clicking on the link on the FCA’s dedicated webpage here. The hearing is diarised to start at 10:00am (or possibly 10:30am depending upon the final court listing).

The CMC will deal with a variety of administrative matters, such as:

• Consideration of the FCA’s application for expedition and admission to the Financial Markets Test Case Scheme. This is a scheme for financial claims raising issues of general importance that require immediate court guidance;
• Fix the timetable for the case, including the date for the final Court hearing. The FCA have requested an 8-day hearing to start in late July 2020; and
• Other procedural matters, such as agreeing or determining a final list of issues to be decided.

Insurer parties in the test case are due to file their Defences by 23 June 2020.

The FCA anticipates inviting further comments from policyholders and stakeholders shortly after 23 June, so that any comments are reflected in the FCA’s Reply and skeleton arguments prepared for the final hearing.

Beale & Co are currently advising several insurers on Covid-19 Business Interruption related recovery issues. Should you require any advice, please do get in touch.