The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) second business interruption test case has been postponed for a week due to difficulties some policyholders have had in obtaining government data and expert evidence on COVID-19 outbreak details.

The Federal Court hearing will now run from September 6-15, Justice Jayne Jagot said in orders handed down yesterday. The hearing had previously been scheduled for August 30-September 8.

“Insurers acknowledge that this extra week gives policyholders more time to obtain verified state government data and expert evidence for their cases while allowing the hearing to proceed on the basis of the available evidence,” ICA CEO Andrew Hall said.

Policyholders participating will be able to present certain additional factual and expert evidence if it later becomes available.

ICA says the delay is not expected to impact on the timing of any appeal, which has been pre-emptively scheduled for the Full Court in the first week of November.

The second test case consists of nine small business claims, from a range of business sectors and locations, lodged with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority as part of its dispute resolution process.

The orders handed down by Justice Jagot point to additional evidence being sought on the location, prevalence or transmission of COVID-19 cases, and the characteristics and transmissibility of the virus.

In the case of one of the claims, information relates to the alleged “conflagration or other catastrophe” in the policy wording, while loss or quantum issues are also being examined.

A separate matter involving QBE and related to Victorian property law is also due to be heard alongside the ICA test.

The High Court declined to hear an appeal on the first test case outcome, meaning insurers can’t rely on references to the Quarantine Act to deny liability, but there are still other hurdles for claimants, as insurers have argued pandemics are generally not covered.

“We thank policyholders involved in this second test case for their time and patience in this important test case process,” Mr Hall said.

“Insurance Council members are committed to applying the courts’ rulings in both this and the first test case in an efficient, transparent, and consistent way when determining business interruption claims.”