Furious small business owners are vowing to "fight to the end" against Australian insurance companies, in an increasingly heated battle over pandemic payouts that is likely to drag on for years.Court decisions are calling that into questionThere are now at least five legal firms investigating potential class action lawsuits against the insurance industry over its denial of business interruption policy payouts during the pandemic.
Despite making a claim and involving the financial complaints regulator AFCA, Mr Herrmann has so far been unable to receive a payout under his BI policy for his revenue loss during the pandemic.IAG did not comment on the specifics of this case. The insurance industry paid the legal costs of two small Australian businesses, a Tamworth caravan park and a Melbourne health food shop, at the centre of the test case.Many of the BI policies held by small business owners state they do not cover revenue losses due to "diseases declared to be quarantinable under the Quarantine Act 1908 and subsequent amendments".COVID-19 was declared as a quarantinable disease under the Biosecurity Act in January 2020.
"It is seen by the insurance industry as a stuff up and they're wanting the insured to pay for their stuff up." In an affidavit filed in court, the ICA estimated that roughly 250,000 small business owners have BI policies that could be impacted by legal actions, and the total sum of potential payouts covered by them is around $10 billion.
"Unfortunately pandemics are a risk that's very difficult to price for. They're very expensive and could shut down the entire country at once.Further court cases coming "There will be a number of cases in the second round, which that will differ from the first claim. At the moment we've submitted around a dozen possible claims to AFCA," he said.
Insurance companies thrive on the “small print “to exclude policy claims Ironic that the printed word will cost them 🙏 unfortunately deep pockets of insurers will drag this out years. Take to Uk courts may fail as they’ve ruled against insurers in similar case in COVID
live by the fine print, die by the fine print.