Lawyers at Provenio Litigation in Liverpool are to represent small businesses who were denied insurance payouts on COVID-19 losses in a multi-million pound class action lawsuit. Tony McDonough reports

Lawyers in Liverpool are to take the insurance industry in a multi-million pound class action lawsuit on behalf of thousands of businesses who have been denied COVID-19 payouts.

In January this year, the UK Supreme Court backed policyholders in an urgent test case to determine whether businesses hit by the  COVID-19 pandemic should receive pay-outs under their business interruption policies.

However, despite the ruling thousands of claims from small and medium-sized businesses are still being rejected, a wrong that Liverpool-based Provenio Litigation is looking to right.

Late last year, Provenio announced the launch of a £50m fund, backed by global litigation funder Therium, to finance litigation and arbitration claims. This fund will be used for the COVID-19 claims so there will be no upfront costs for businesses bringing a claim.

Mark Goodwin, managing partner at Provenio, said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has led to widespread disruption resulting in a significant level of financial loss for businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises.

“In January this year, the UK Supreme Court backed policyholders in a test case. Insurers had argued that many business interruption policies did not cover widespread disruption but the Supreme Court categorically rejected their arguments.

“Despite the Supreme Court ruling and public assurances to the contrary, thousands of claims are still being rejected or not met by insurers. Our legal action will right this wrong.”

Provenio was launched in 2019 by a team of senior litigation lawyers from DLA Piper’s Liverpool office. Headed by founder and managing partner, Mark Goodwin, the team has more than 100 years’ combined litigation experience at DLA Piper.

He added: “The Supreme Court decision provides clear guidance, greater clarity and certainty for parties. Our specialist litigators will examine cases individually and assess if losses are recoverable under their policy. Having run a pilot scheme in December, we are expecting this legal action to attract thousands of claimants.”

For further details on Provenio’s COVID-19 business interruption legal action, click here.