Since September, Allianz has been changing the policies of all companies that have taken out business closure insurance with it. New policies are being offered that now exclude the pandemic. If the offer is not accepted, the insurer cancels the contracts at the end of the respective term.
“We are informing you even more clearly than before that there is no insurance cover for the causative disease as long as this disease is listed as a pandemic by the WHO. In our opinion, insurance for the corona virus in times of pandemic is not possible at fair prices in terms of risk. It is important to us that we can continue to offer a business closure product at a low premium. We achieve this through a transparent exclusion of pandemics / epidemics, ”said Allianz at the request of the Insurance messengers.
For the Bavarian Dehoga President Angela Inselkammer, the decision of the alliance does not come as a surprise. The pandemic was not foreseeable for anyone – and was therefore not planned for anyone, she told the newspaper. It is all the more important to find a solution for the future. Companies alone could not shoulder the risk either. “Now that we are once again quickly locked for four weeks, the state is doing it alone by paying 75 percent for the smaller businesses,” she explains, but this cannot be a permanent solution.
When it comes to company closures, there is currently a nationwide wave of lawsuits against insurers unwilling to pay. Only recently, the Munich district court awarded a plaintiff innkeeper the required million sum for the first time. According to the judgment, the defendant insurance chamber has to pay the costs of 30 days of corona-related business closure to the tenant of the Munich Augustinerkeller – exactly 1.014 million euros. Hundreds of similar lawsuits against several insurance companies are pending in the courts across Germany, including the market leader Allianz.
Ingrid Hartges, General Manager of the DEHOGA Bundesverband, said: “The DEHOGA Bundesverband welcomes the judgment of the Regional Court of Munich. The innkeeper’s victory is more than an encouraging signal for many businesses with business closure insurance. From the beginning of the debate, the DEHOGA Federal Association has taken the legal position that the insurance industry is obliged to provide benefits.
However, the success of the prominent Munich host does not mean that all the sued insurance companies have to be defeated in court, neither in Munich nor anywhere else. The only thing that is clear is that both the Insurance Chamber and Allianz in their home town of Munich have bad chances with all the same business closure policies. The General Association of the Insurance Industry GDV emphasized accordingly: “In each individual case, it depends on the exact wording of the insurance conditions.”
In another case, Allianz and the Munich restaurant “Paulaner am Nockherberg” reached an out-of-court settlement on the costs of the Corona closings. (Tageskarte reported) Both parties confirmed the conclusion of a settlement but did not comment on the details. Both sides are satisfied, said the host of the Nockherberg, Christian Schottenhammel. The eagerly awaited decision of the procedure on Thursday is omitted.
The largest German insurance company and the nationally known restaurant through the television broadcast of “Politiker-Derblecken” at the tapping of strong beer had argued over a good 1.1 million euros. Schottenhammel had asked for this sum for the six-week closure of his restaurant in the first Corona wave. (With material from the dpa)
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