Cape Town – A lengthy court battle awaits a local restaurant after its insurer, Guardrisk, decided to approach the court for leave to appeal an order that it should pay out its Covid-19 business interruption claims.
Guardrisk’s move comes after the Western Cape High Court recently found that Covid-19 falls substantially within the ambit of the Notifiable Diseases Extension, and ordered it to honour Café Chameleon’s Covid-19 Business Interruption claims.
“The issues we are grappling with, as highlighted by the court proceedings, are not confined to Guardrisk, or even to South Africa, as is evident by the extent of litigation around the same issues currently occurring in the US, UK, Europe and Australia.
"After careful consideration, we have decided to approach the court for leave to appeal the judgment. It is important that we do so in order to obtain certainty for the industry, our business and for our policyholders going forward,” Guardrisk said.
Café Chameleon’s legal representative, Ren Dunster, a director at Dunsters Attorneys, said they were confident the appeals court would confirm the high court order.
“I have no reason to doubt the finding,” he said.