Bath Racecourse Company Limited and others (Appellants) v Liberty Mutual Insurance Europe SE and others (Respondents)

Case summary

Case ID

UKSC/2025/0068

Parties

Appellant(s)

Bath Racecourse Company Limited and 21 other Claimants listed in Appendix 1 to the Particulars of Claim

Respondent(s)

(1) Liberty Mutual Insurance Europe SE (2) Allianz Insurance Plc (3) Aviva Insurance Limited

Issue

Whether ‘furlough’ payments made under the Government Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme fall to be deducted from the amount payable in insurance claims for business interruption losses suffered by companies as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Facts

These two linked appeals relate to several business interruption insurance claims arising out of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Appellants in appeal UKSC 2025/0067 are six insured companies each of which owned or operated a separate hotel in England. The Appellants in appeal UKSC 2025/0068 are various insured companies within the Arena Racing group which operated racecourses, greyhound tracks, golf clubs, hotels, and a pub at 21 locations. Each of the Appellants held an insurance policy with the Respondent(s) which insured for business interruption (“BI”) losses and contained what is described as a “prevention of access” clause. The Appellants all claimed BI losses sustained during the Covid-19 pandemic under their respective prevention of access clauses. The Respondent(s) argue that credit should be given by the Appellants for furlough payments they had received from the Government as a result of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (“CJRS”) and that such payments should be deducted from the indemnity payable to the Appellants by reason of the “savings clause” in the Appellants’ respective insurance policies. In the High Court, Jacobs J found that credit should be given for the furlough payments. The Court of Appeal agreed. The Appellants now appeal directly to the Supreme Court.

Date of issue

23 April 2025

Case origin

PTA

Linked cases

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