Cape restaurant wins court battle over Covid-19 insurance claim
The Western Cape High Court has compelled insurance company Guardrisk to accept liability for losses suffered by small Cape Town restaurant Café Chameleon due to the Covid-19 lockdown.
The ruling has been welcomed by Insurance Claims Africa, which is championing the cause of 500 businesses in the tourism and hospitality sector in their battle to get large insurers to pay up for business interruption.
Cafe Chameleon went to court seeking an order declaring that Guardrisk, which is part of insurance giant Momentum Metropolitan Holdings, was obliged to indemnify the restaurant for the losses it suffered due to the lockdown.
Insurance Claims Africa CEO Ryan Woolley says insurers have been rejecting claims on the basis that it was never meant to cover pandemics.
"This is a significant win for the tourism and hospitality sector. While there is no doubt that this is precedent setting, we expect the judgment to be appealed, so it is still a long way from payment.”
Judge Andre le Grange rejected the insurers’ argument that the losses suffered by the claimant was due to the lockdown, and not the Covid-19 pandemic.
“This argument has never made any sense, as the insurers chose to insure a notifiable disease which would have contemplated government intervention and restrictions or quarantine,” says Woolley.
“It is clear that without Covid-19, there would be no lockdown, so to attempt to separate the two is nothing short of disingenuous.”
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