Axa granted leave to appeal Corbin & King verdict

The High Court has granted Axa leave to appeal the judgment in the Corbin & King business interruption case which sees the provider expected to pay a further £4.4m in claims.

Corbin & King claimed the non-damage denial of access clause covered losses resulting from closures and restrictions under government regulations and that it could claim for three occasions in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic rather than just one loss.

In February, Mrs Justice Cockerill ruled in Wolseley-owner Corbin & King’s favour saying that it was covered for pandemic losses under the NDDA clause. Until that point, claims made under this type of clause had mostly been declined by insurers.

Formality

As the law surrounding the case is new it was expected that the High Court would grant the appeal as a formality.

Axa declined to comment on whether it would take any appeal forward and referenced statements made previously in the wake of the February judgment.

Roger Franklin, head of insurance litigation at Edwin Coe, which represents Corbin & King, confirmed an appeal had been granted.

He commented: “It is unclear if Axa will pursue the appeal but we are confident the Court of Appeal will uphold the judgment of Mrs Justice Cockerill.”

In February, following the initial judgment, experts warned it could see insurers paying out an increased number of and higher value business interruption claims.

The case followed on from the Financial Authority’s BI test case which was launched in 2020 after numerous business customers complained that providers were not honouring BI claims in the pandemic. The case ended up in the Supreme Court which eventually ruled favour of policyholders.

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