Metallica‘s breach of contract appeal against insurer Lloyd’s Of London has been rejected. The thrash metal titans first filed suit against the aforementioned company back in June of 2021. At the heart of the matter was the alleged $3,234,569 in losses incurred by the band over six Latin American shows they were forced to cancel in April of 2020 due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
The group had purchased a standard “cancellation, abandonment and non-appearance insurance” policy from the aforementioned insurer to cover that run. However, the insurer refused to pay out the policy, citing a communicable disease exclusion clause listed within it. The band disputed that and took the insurer to court for breach of contract, seeking compensatory damages, as well as a declaration of the rights and obligations of the involved parties.
Per the suit, Metallica had been seeking to dispute the communicable disease exclusion and the nature of the cancellation of the tour. They argued in their complaint that, “travel restrictions, the duty to mitigate damages, the need to ‘flatten the curve’ and stay-at-home orders all caused the Shows’ cancellations.”
In December of 2022, a judge ruled against the band, stating that the travel restrictions were a direct cause of ‘the burgeoning COVID-19 pandemic’ and thus, the communicable disease exclusion remained valid.
The band went on to appeal the verdict, citing the reopening of venues in 2022, despite the ongoing pandemic, and the lack of specificity of a ‘virus’ being listed in the insurer’s communicable disease exclusion clause. This past Monday, March 18th saw California’s Court Of Appeal once again rule against the band and their attempts to take the case to trial before a jury.
Billboard report that Justice Maria Stratton rejected the band’s appeal, stating at one point that it was, “absurd to think that government closures were not the result of Covid-19.” Stratton continued:
“To paraphrase Taylor Swift: ‘We were there. We remember it all too well. There was no vaccine against Covid-19 in March 2020 and no drugs to treat it. Ventilators were in short supply. N-95 masks were all but non-existent. Patients were being treated in tents in hospital parking lots. The mortality rate of Covid-19 was unknown, but to give just one example of the potential fatality rate, by late March, 2020, New York City was using refrigerated trucks as temporary morgues. People were terrified.”
Stratton would argue that the band’s attempts to bring up the reopening of venues in 2022 was not valid, as “much had changed” by that time period. Stratton stated:
“People were in a position to make a more accurate cost-benefit analysis of restrictions versus potential illness. The fact that governments chose to lift restrictions at that point, two years after COVID-19 was first discovered, does not in any way call into question their reasons for imposing travel restrictions early in the pandemic.”
