Calif. court allows Metallica's event cancellation case to continue
‘. . . And Justice For All,’ or at least some heavy metal icons as a court decides it is too early in the lawsuit for dismissal.
The California Superior Court ruled it could not dismiss a pandemic-related event cancellation suit filed by heavy metal act Metallica against underwriters at Lloyd’s of London, noting the case was still in its preliminary stage and a “proximate cause” of the loss hasn’t been established yet.
“The court held that the complaint sufficiently alleged that travel restrictions, the duty to mitigate damages, the need to flatten the curve, and stay-at-home orders may be the efficient proximate cause of Metallica’s losses,” said lead counsel Jeffrey L. Schulman, a partner with Pasich LLP, in a statement. “The court also noted our argument that the virus/disease may not be the cause of the loss because it still exists and yet, travel and gathering restrictions have eased and concerts are again being performed. The decision also cited our allegation that the insurers cannot identify the efficient proximate cause of the loss because they conducted no meaningful investigation before denying coverage.”
In September 2019, Metallica began an eight-show tour. The tour began with two shows in San Francisco, which were to be followed by six shows in South America beginning on April 15, 2020. Due to the pandemic shutdown, the South American shows were postponed.
Metallica sued Lloyd’s underwriters after they refused to cover the postponements. The suit charged breach of contract and tortious breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing.
Lloyd’s argued that the pandemic caused the cancellations and, therefore, the insurer should win because there was a virus exclusion in the applicable policy. Metallica argued that Lloyd’s “cannot conclusively say that the pandemic is the efficient proximate cause of the cancellations because there are other adequately alleged causes that are covered by the policy.”
According to the complaint, “the travel restrictions, the duty to mitigate damages, the need to ‘flatten the curve’ and stay-at-home orders all caused the shows’ cancellations.”
The band argued that COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2 still exist, “but that travel restrictions and restrictions on social gatherings have lifted and eased, suggesting that it was something more than just the virus/disease that caused the cancellations.”
In allowing the litigation to proceed, the court noted that the complaint “adequately alleged that the coronavirus disease/virus is not the efficient proximate cause of the shows’ cancellations.”
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