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AN EXECUTIVE WITH FBD Insurance has told the Superior Court that he was wrong when he told a bartender that his business interruption policy for bars covered losses caused by the Covid-19 outbreak.
Paul Shanahan, who is FBD’s business development executive, agreed that he told Noel Anderson, the managing director of The Lemon and Duke bar restaurant, in early March that FBD’s policy covered losses from business interruptions caused by Covid- 19.
Anderson, whose partners at the bar-restaurant include Irish rugby players Sean O’Brien, brothers Dave and Rob Kearney and Jamie Heaslip, told the High Court yesterday that it was switched to FBD because he had heard its policies covered the coronavirus. .
Shanahan agreed that he informed Anderson in an email in early March that his policy covered losses that could arise due to Covid-19 in the event of a forced shutdown.
However, Shanahan said he learned, after a meeting that took place with representatives of the innkeepers and senior FBD staff on March 17, that this was not the case.
Realizing his mistake that the FBD Public Housing Policy did not cover the Covid-19 pandemic, he said he was very concerned.
He briefed Anderson on the FBD’s stance and said he sought guidance from his line manager on how to deal with the Lemon and Dukes business interruption claim, which was to be handled by the FBD’s claims management section.
Shanahan was testifying before Judge Denis McDonald the second week of test cases brought by four pubs that stemmed from the FBD’s refusal to compensate them for their business interruption due to Covid-19.
Shanahan said the last few months have been stressful for him and nothing like this has ever happened to him before.
When questioned by Michael Cush SC about one of the pubs involved in the action, Shanahan said that “there was no attempt to mislead anyone” regarding the policy.
He said that based on conversations with colleagues, he had no reason to think that coverage for Covid-19 was not available under the policy.
He added that he would never have told a customer that he was covered by a policy when he was not.
When asked by the attorney if he still had the same concerns, which were expressed in an email to a colleague, that FBD might have mis-sold the policy, he replied “that’s in my statement.”
In her court evidence, FBD Head of Underwriting Kate Tobin said there had been some confusion within the insurer regarding coverage.
While some had believed that coverage was ultimately available, the company took the position that it was not covered.
In his evidence, he said that FBD did not refuse to provide coverage on the basis that it could pay, but on the basis of whether the claimed event was covered under the policy.
Also testifying today was Philip Byrne, director of Leinster Overview Concepts Ltd, which markets itself as Sean’s Bar, in Athlone, Co Westmeath.
In response to his lawyer, Eoin McCullough SC, said that the bar had been closed since last March 15 when the government ordered the closure of the companies.
The well-known bar, which is in the Guinness Book of Records for being the oldest Pub in Ireland, does not make food and could not reopen last June.
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While plans had been in place to reopen in recent weeks, they were suspended for reasons including the announcement of new restrictions and staffing difficulties.
On cross-examination, Mr. Byrne said that a lot of construction work took place at the pub during the closing, but he did not know what the future holds for the business given the current situation.
The shares have been taken by Dublin Aberken bars, which trade as Sinnotts Bar; Hyper Trust Ltd, which is listed as ‘The Leopardstown Inn’ and ‘Inn on Hibernian Way’ Ltd is listed as Lemon & Duke and the owner of Sean’s Bar.
They claim that, by virtue of their insurance policies taken out with FBD, they are entitled to have their consequential losses covered by what they claim is an insurable risk.
They also claim that the insurer breaches the contract.
The publicans affirm that the policies contracted with FBD have a clause that establishes that the pubs will be compensated if their premises were closed by order of the local or governmental authority if there are “Outbreaks of contagious or infectious diseases in the facilities or within 25 miles of himself. “
FBD disputes that claim, saying the closures did not occur as a result of an outbreak of disease at the facilities or areas where the pubs are located.
The hearing continues.
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