Myton Law set to provide clarity over business insurance in wake of virus
HULL-based law firm Myton Law, which offers specialist insurance law advice, is set to help provide SMEs with clarity over their business insurance cover in the face of the coronavirus.
“Interpreting business insurance tends to be challenging,” says Myton Law’s John Habergham. “In this current crisis business owners can benefit from obtaining independent advice to know where they stand when dealing with their insurers.”
The Government had originally recommended that business owners look to their insurance, but insurers suggest that policyholders are unlikely to be covered.
The Association of British Insurers has said that many businesses only have cover for interruption due to physical damage to business premises. Some policies may have an extension to cover other causes of business interruption on a non-damage basis – policy holders should check.
Where a policy has been written on this basis it has also been suggested that policies may have a general exclusion of cover for pandemics; or there may be cover for pandemics on a general basis, but accompanied by a list of specific excepted diseases.
“Some policies do include disruption due to infectious diseases, but the types of diseases may be listed in the wording and with Covid-19 only just being identified it is unlikely to be amongst specified exclusions. It really is going to be down to the detail,” said John Habergham.
“We hope that many businesses will find the support they need from their brokers, but this is a new and complex situation for the insurance industry. We can assess policies to provide some clarity for business owners.”
