The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has identified a preliminary list of 91 policy wordings that match those which fall within the scope of a UK business interruption High Court test case.

“The list is not comprehensive,” it says. “There are other insurers and many other policies in the market that we expect the test case to affect.”

The test case is focusing on policies which provide cover in principle for business interruption losses without the need for physical or property damage, but which insurers maintain don’t cover losses resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

A representative sample of 19 wordings, up from an initial 17, has been selected by the FCA, which has asked eight insurers to take part in the case.

The participants are QBE, Arch Insurance, Argenta Syndicate Management, Ecclesiastical Insurance Office, Hiscox, MS Amlin, Royal & SunAlliance and Zurich.

In a particulars of claim document the FCA says the coronavirus outbreak has become so widespread in the UK that business interruption policies with distance restrictions would be triggered.

“Those clauses which provide cover only where there was a danger, emergency, threat, disease, public authority action or other trigger within a certain distance or vicinity of the premises will usually be triggered by early/mid March,” it says.

“COVID-19 was a national emergency and danger (hence the national measures implemented), and so automatically occurred within the vicinity, within 25 miles etc, without the need to prove any local COVID-19 event.”

The FCA also says on policy intention that wordings are to be “construed objectively”.

“The defendant’s subjective intentions, or their reasons behind the design of the wordings, is not relevant or admissible,” it argues.

The first case management conference before a Judge is expected to take place this week and the court hearing is expected in the second half of next month.