Official statement from the Hiscox Action Group:
The Hiscox Action Group has secured a major victory against Hiscox Insurance over its refusal to pay out on its Business Interruption policies.
The Hiscox Action Group, with over 400 members, is seeking payment of over £40 million for policies that were intended to trigger when access to premises were restricted following the outbreak of a “notifiable disease”.
On the 12th August 2020 in the High Court, legal teams representing both parties agreed for the action to be heard as one arbitration, with three arbitrators appointed to review four categories of policy.
Hiscox Action Group members have the right to arbitration written into their insurance contracts as a route to providing a swift way of resolving claims disputes.
Richard Leedham from Mishcon de Reya says, “Today’s agreement is a significant moment in our pursuit of Hiscox Insurance. We are very pleased that they have overall agreed to our proposals for a simple way of moving forward the arbitration process. Having one tribunal will bring clarity, speedup the action and provide consistent results for our members.”
The High Court action is part of a twin track strategy being pursued by the Hiscox Action Group. The HAG also joined the FCA action which finished late July and which is intended to provide clarity on over 50 insurance policies written by eight insurers.
According to the FCA, up to 370,000 UK businesses could be affected by insurers failure to pay out on Business Interruption claims which suggests the total amount involved could be close to £4 billion.
Additional amounts are also likely to be sought by HAG policy holders under the Insurance Act which is intended to penalise insurers for not settling legitimate claims swiftly.
Mark Killick, a Hiscox Action Group steering committee member, adds, “Today’s agreement is an important milestone in our campaign to force Hiscox to do the right thing and honour its obligations. Hopefully the agreement on the arbitration route will bring new momentum to getting a quicker resolution and ease further financial hardship on our members.”