Today marks LMI Group’s quarter century of service to the insurance industry and wider communities. What better way to reflect on all that our dedicated team have accomplished but list 50 highlights from our first 25 years that you may not know (or have forgotten) the Group. As an aside, I tried to narrow this down to 25 for 25 but I was over this […]
Jobkeeper payments not to be deducted as a saving under Business Interruption claims
Over 2 years ago (22 September 2020) I suggested that the general insurance industry take a common approach to JobKeeper payments in Business Interruption claims. https://www.allanmanning.com/jobkeeper-a-call-for-a-uniform-approach-in-business-interruption-claims/ On the one hand, it is pleasing to see that the High Court has dismissed a request to take the decision of the Full Court of Appeal that JobKeeper payments are not a saving in Payroll nor is it […]
High Court Decision not to allow appeal on Quarantine Exclusion only the first hurdle for Insureds.
As I predicted way back on 7 February 2020, the High Court refused insurers leave to appeal the decision of the lower courts that held that insurers are not able to rely on an exclusion that refers to the Quarantine Act 1908 when this act was repealed and replaced by the Biosecurity Act 2015. This however, is the first of a number of issues that […]
Facebook puts money over social responsibility
In case you have not caught up, government organisations in Australia including emergency services and weather forecasters have also had their pages removed by Facebook after the social media giant slapped a ban on Australian users and publishers from sharing or viewing news content. Fire and Rescue NSW, South Australia Health, Queensland Health have all had their pages wiped this morning. The Bureau of Meteorology also confirmed […]
More on the UK BI COVID-19 decision
Further to my post last Saturday, I thought it important to share another important part of the ruling. As I have repeatedly said, this is not Australian law but it does help us understand how the courts may think when they address the same issues here in Australia. The aspect the court clarified was that where the claim is based on an occurrence of COVID-19 […]
UK decision on COVID Business Interruption claims handed down
As I indicated on Thursday, the Supreme Court handed down its decision on the test case on business interruption claims involving COVID-19 on Friday their time. Essentially, the Court rejected all insurers’ appeals from the lower court hearing and pleasingly clarified many issues. The key points are: If there is at least one episode of COVID-19 within the insured radius, the “continuous cause” decision of […]
UK Business Interruption COVID case decision due Friday.
The Supreme Court in the United Kingdom has announced that it will deliver its judgment on Friday 15 January 2021 at 9:45 am (GMT / London Time). The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has advised that they understand that the delivery of the judgment may last around 15 minutes, and the full written judgment is likely to be published on the Supreme Court’s website very soon after that. In order to view […]
Can we better manage the risk to Australia posed by COVID?
Over the Christmas and New Year period, through to today, we have seen the impact of yet another breakdown in managing the risk of returning travellers. How a transport driver was not adequately protected from the returning passengers I cannot understand. Despite seeing the impact on the physical and mental health of so many people around the world we continue to see returning passengers breach […]
JobKeeper – A call for a uniform approach in Business Interruption claims
At LMI we have been involved in many claims now where JobKeeper payments made by the government where it may or may not be appropriate to consider in the claim adjustment. While the title of this paper is “A call for a uniform approach”, what I am not suggesting is that in every case that we either ignore it, or that we deduct any payments […]
UK Test Case finds in favour of Insureds
As I reported last week, the decision on the test case was handed down last night on schedule. The case centered on whether insurance policies in the UK respond to closure due to COVID-19 has come down mainly in favour of Insured’s overnight. The judge also has some very interesting comments on the very controversial Orient-Express Hotels Ltd v Assicurazioni Generali SA case. I will read the judgement again carefully before sharing […]