In rejecting a bid by The Star Entertainment Group to recoup losses stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Court’s Chief Justice did “real and unexplained violence” to the construction of a business interruption policy the casino giant had taken out with Chubb, the Full Court has heard.
The Star Entertainment Group will not be able to recoup losses at its casinos and hotels stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, after a judge found the company’s $4 billion industrial special risks policy did not cover financial losses from government-imposed restrictions.
COVID-19 was clearly excluded from the business interruption insurance policy taken out by The Star, and a lawsuit seeking coverage for economic loss resulting from the pandemic was “misconceived”, a group of insurers has said.
Insurers for The Star have told a court that the casino’s lawsuit, which seeks to resolve threshold policy coverage issues in a bid to claim the losses it has suffered as a result of government restrictions enacted to stop the spread of COVID-19, is incomplete.
Sydney’s Star Casino is taking its insurers to court in a bid to claim the losses it has suffered as a result of Government restrictions enacted to stop the spread of COVID-19.