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Analyzing the Effect of Causation in Covid-19 Business Interruption Insurance Claims: A Black-Letter Law Analysis of Causation within Business Interruption Insurance Cases
The unprecedented Covid-19 lockdown response by governments around the world triggered a bevy of business interruption insurance claims. One of the key issues considered by the courts in adjudicating refuted claims was the question of causation. The question in its simplest form was this: did the vi...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Commercial Law
2023
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| _version_ | 1867614307541319680 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Naidoo, Jared |
| author2 | Hutchison, Andrew |
| author_browse | Hutchison, Andrew Naidoo, Jared |
| author_facet | Hutchison, Andrew Naidoo, Jared |
| author_sort | Naidoo, Jared |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | The unprecedented Covid-19 lockdown response by governments around the world triggered a bevy of business interruption insurance claims. One of the key issues considered by the courts in adjudicating refuted claims was the question of causation. The question in its simplest form was this: did the virus or the government response cause the losses suffered by the insured? This paper analyzes the effect causation played in the adjudication of these business interruption insurance cases in South Africa, as well as the test case in the United Kingdom. Given the novelty of the issue, this paper narrows down on the causative link between the virus, the government response and the insurance claim, at the time of writing the paper, a topic not thoroughly focused on by other academics. This paper analyzes the case law to see how the courts dealt with the issue, but also proposes an alternative causation theory to consider and what the result of the courts' decision could have been had they followed that consideration. The main finding is that despite a reasonable alternative consideration of causations effect on the insurance claim, the courts' made the more appropriate decision, especially taking into account the overarching considerations of fairness. The result shows the major effect causation plays in business interruption insurance cases and the depth of the causative analysis goes much deeper than anticipated, however given the unanimous judgments from South Africa and the UK, the question of causation in Covid-19 business interruption claims seems to now be largely settled law. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/38127 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:49:58.054Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2023 |
| publishDateRange | 2023 |
| publishDateSort | 2023 |
| publisher | Department of Commercial Law |
| publisherStr | Department of Commercial Law |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/38127 Analyzing the Effect of Causation in Covid-19 Business Interruption Insurance Claims: A Black-Letter Law Analysis of Causation within Business Interruption Insurance Cases Naidoo, Jared Hutchison, Andrew Commercial Law The unprecedented Covid-19 lockdown response by governments around the world triggered a bevy of business interruption insurance claims. One of the key issues considered by the courts in adjudicating refuted claims was the question of causation. The question in its simplest form was this: did the virus or the government response cause the losses suffered by the insured? This paper analyzes the effect causation played in the adjudication of these business interruption insurance cases in South Africa, as well as the test case in the United Kingdom. Given the novelty of the issue, this paper narrows down on the causative link between the virus, the government response and the insurance claim, at the time of writing the paper, a topic not thoroughly focused on by other academics. This paper analyzes the case law to see how the courts dealt with the issue, but also proposes an alternative causation theory to consider and what the result of the courts' decision could have been had they followed that consideration. The main finding is that despite a reasonable alternative consideration of causations effect on the insurance claim, the courts' made the more appropriate decision, especially taking into account the overarching considerations of fairness. The result shows the major effect causation plays in business interruption insurance cases and the depth of the causative analysis goes much deeper than anticipated, however given the unanimous judgments from South Africa and the UK, the question of causation in Covid-19 business interruption claims seems to now be largely settled law. 2023-07-19T05:34:18Z 2023-07-19T05:34:18Z 2023 2023-07-19T05:33:33Z Master Thesis Masters Masters http://hdl.handle.net/11427/38127 eng application/pdf Department of Commercial Law Faculty of Law |
| spellingShingle | Commercial Law Naidoo, Jared Analyzing the Effect of Causation in Covid-19 Business Interruption Insurance Claims: A Black-Letter Law Analysis of Causation within Business Interruption Insurance Cases |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Analyzing the Effect of Causation in Covid-19 Business Interruption Insurance Claims: A Black-Letter Law Analysis of Causation within Business Interruption Insurance Cases |
| title_full | Analyzing the Effect of Causation in Covid-19 Business Interruption Insurance Claims: A Black-Letter Law Analysis of Causation within Business Interruption Insurance Cases |
| title_fullStr | Analyzing the Effect of Causation in Covid-19 Business Interruption Insurance Claims: A Black-Letter Law Analysis of Causation within Business Interruption Insurance Cases |
| title_full_unstemmed | Analyzing the Effect of Causation in Covid-19 Business Interruption Insurance Claims: A Black-Letter Law Analysis of Causation within Business Interruption Insurance Cases |
| title_short | Analyzing the Effect of Causation in Covid-19 Business Interruption Insurance Claims: A Black-Letter Law Analysis of Causation within Business Interruption Insurance Cases |
| title_sort | analyzing the effect of causation in covid 19 business interruption insurance claims a black letter law analysis of causation within business interruption insurance cases |
| topic | Commercial Law |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/38127 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT naidoojared analyzingtheeffectofcausationincovid19businessinterruptioninsuranceclaimsablackletterlawanalysisofcausationwithinbusinessinterruptioninsurancecases |