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A Dublin innkeeper sent the FBD’s business director an article detailing the insurer’s earnings last year as he was “angry” at the company’s refusal to pay compensation for losses suffered from the Covid pandemic, according to the Commercial Court has heard.
Oel Anderson, managing director of Lemon & Duke, said he had been sold a policy that he believed explicitly covered his business against coronavirus.
“I could see the money they had made in 2019 and I saw the position my staff was in and they were angry,” he said.
The staff had to move back in with his parents and he had to provide some coupons to buy food after Lemon & Duke was forced to close, he told the court.
Anderson co-owns the bar with rugby players Rob and Dave Kearney, Sean O’Brien and Jamie Heaslip.
He is one of four publicans who sued FBD for their refusal to compensate them for their business disruption due to Covid-19.
He said he became seriously concerned about the coronavirus in February, to the point that he was “obsessed” with it.
After returning from the UK, where he attended the Ireland-England Six Nations game on February 23, he began inquiring about insurance policies.
He sent a message to his fellow publicans on a WhatsApp group called “a few pints” to ask if anyone knew of an insurer offering coverage for the coronavirus.
Marcus Houlihan, owner of the Long Hall bar, responded by saying that he understood that FBD was providing such coverage.
Anderson said he contacted John Reade, FBD’s chief business officer, the next day.
He told the court that he knew Mr. Reade through his work as vice president of the Licensed Vintners Association (LVA) and that he had met him on several occasions.
Anderson said he asked him “directly” if FBD was covering the coronavirus and, if so, would insure Lemon & Duke.
“He called me around lunchtime… he explained that it was good news, they were covering the coronavirus but only for pubs and not restaurants. I remember it because I remember thinking that Adrian Cummins, CEO of the Irish Restaurant Association, would not be happy with that. “
A meeting was later arranged for March 2 with FBD Sales Executive Paul Shanahan.
Anderson said they discussed the price of the premium and a supplemental letter outlining that the business would be covered by the coronavirus in the event that their business was forced to close.
They agreed to a premium of 27,000 euros and a supplementary letter was sent by email later that day, he told the court.
He said he understood the policy clearly meant that if the facility was forcibly closed by the coronavirus, his employees’ wages, his own personal wages and the business were protected.
Mr. Anderson paid the premium in one lump sum and said he was “excited” and “relieved.”
In the coming days, the situation with the coronavirus began to deteriorate, and he said he reached out to Shanahan via email on March 11 to express his concerns.
He said Mr. Shanahan called him back to assure him that everyone was okay and that he “didn’t like that” as he preferred there to be a “paper trail”.
Anderson said that on the morning of March 15, around 9:30 a.m., he called John Reade and was very impressed that he took his phone call while working from 9 to 5.
On March 16, after the pubs were ordered closed, Anderson said he noticed a change in Reade.
“He was much more cautious with me on the phone, his tone of voice alarmed me. He is quite an open and honest person, but he was much more reserved. He said ‘you should be fine’ and I thought, oh my gosh, they’re not going to make me here. “
A meeting between LVA representatives with senior FBD staff, including now former CEO Fiona Muldoon, was held on St. Patrick’s Day.
Anderson said he was concerned that FBD would breach their agreement after this meeting.
He said he was “sick to his stomach” when FBD sent a letter in April withdrawing the representations made earlier.
Remy Farrell SC, attorney for FBD, asked Mr. Anderson during cross-examination if he had ever sought coverage for infectious diseases prior to 2020.
He answered no.
Farrell also said that Shanahan “has no recollection” of a phone call on March 11. He told Anderson that the LVA attended the meeting with the government on March 15 seeking to have the pubs closed.
He asked if coverage of the business interruption was at the back of LVA’s mind.
Anderson said the LVA does not have the authority to close pubs and that they were simply seeking clarity on the situation.
Christopher Kelly, owner of Sinnott’s Bar on St Stephen’s Green, also gave a statement.
He told the court that his group, which consists of 11 bars, employs 300 people, of whom 90% had to be fired.
“I had a grown man crying in front of me this week because he can’t pay his mortgage. He has four children. This is not just a monetary gain, ”Kelly told the court.
He described his group of bars as “the biggest in the FBD books.”
Kelly said in his previous dealings that he found FBD to be very fair and straightforward when it came to third party claims.
He paid FBD 3 million euros for insurance over the years and had only submitted claims of around 300,000 euros, he said.
In his opinion, the policy was in plain language and the words used meant that his businesses were covered for all losses caused by the Covid pandemic.
Sinnotts Bar, Sean’s Bar, The Leopardstown Inn and Lemon & Duke are suing FBD as part of test cases that could have a significant impact on more than 1,100 companies.
The pubs argue that their policies have a clause stating that they would be compensated if their facilities were closed by order of a local authority or the government if there are “outbreaks of a contagious or infectious disease on or within 25 miles of the premises “. .
FBD’s position is that the bar closures were not due to a Covid outbreak at the facility or within a 25-mile radius, but rather to the “national situation.”
The hearing continues.
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