Santam to apply to appeal against Covid-19 business interruption judgment against it
Insurance group Santam announced on Friday that it was going to seek leave to appeal the recent judgment handed down against it by a full bench of the Western Cape High Court. The Court ruled that the insurance group must pay in full the business interruption claims of Ma-Afrika Hotels and Stellenbosch Kitchen, and also pay all of the claimants’ legal costs.
The business interruption had been caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the consequent government-imposed national lockdown. Despite the claimants having infectious and notifiable disease coverage in their policies, Santam had refused to pay out their claims.
“Santam believes that the high court erred in its judgment regarding causation and the insured peril, the trends clause and the indemnity period, and it is therefore important to take the matter to the Supreme Court of Appeal,” said the insurer in its statement. “The significance of the [business interruption] matter to the insurance industry and the precedents at stake necessitate continuing to the next stage in the process of obtaining legal finality.”
The group reiterated that it had paid more than R1-billion to nearly 2 500 of its small and medium-sized business clients in the hospitality, leisure and non-essential retail sectors. This was interim relief to support them while the legal processes were under way.
“We will continue to communicate regularly through our intermediaries to update our clients on the status of individual claims, especially those impacted by this court case,” stated Santam. “We pursuing an expedited appeal process to ensure that we bring this matter to finality as soon as possible.”
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
Weir Minerals Europe, Middle East and Africa is a global supplier of excellent minerals solutions, including pumps, valves, hydrocyclones,...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Supplier & Distributor of the Widest Range of Accurate & Easy-to-Use Alcohol Breathalysers
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
