The High Court has given Allianz further guidance on how it should assess other COVID-19 business interruption claims following an earlier ruling involving the Marlin Hotel Dublin.
Mr Justice Denis McDonald’s supplemental judgment addresses two issues arising from his September 2024 decision that the hotel was covered for losses caused by restrictions imposed from December 24th, 2020.
First, the court considered how far back an occurrence of COVID-19 at an insured premises could be treated as contributing to the Government restrictions imposed on December 23rd.
Allianz argued that earlier infections could not have caused that order because restrictions had actually been eased on December 1st and again on December 17th. The court broadly accepted that reasoning but examined public-health reports covering the period in detail.
The key change came in the Health Protection Surveillance Centre report of December 23rd. It showed a marked rise in cases across the preceding 14 days. Because Irish public-health advisers were using 14-day periods to assess trends, the judge held that cases occurring from midnight on December 9th through December 22nd formed part of the body of infections which caused the December 23rd restrictions. Cases before December 9th did not.
The second issue concerned people whose COVID-19 infection was only diagnosed after restrictions were imposed. The court held that, because the usual incubation period was three to five days, a policyholder may rely on a diagnosis within five days after an order if evidence shows the infected person had been at the insured premises sufficiently close to the order date.
For example, a person present on the premises on the day of the restriction order and diagnosed within five days could be treated as having had COVID-19 there before the order. The permitted post-order period shortens where the person was last on the premises earlier.
The court also left open the possibility of later diagnoses being relevant where additional evidence, such as symptoms before testing, supports an earlier infection. Formal declarations reflecting the ruling were to be agreed by the parties.