Christopher BarrettLive Nation Entertainment (LNE) is suing its insurance company, FM Global, claiming it has refused to honour its premium policy and cover huge losses as a result of the pandemic despite contract wording suggesting communicable diseases such as Covid-19 were covered.
The lawsuit, which was filed in California Central District Court on 29 January by LNE counsel Marc D. Halpern and assigned to judge John A Kronstadt, has seen the international promoting giant, and Ticketmaster parent company, join a growing number of organisations including Ralph Lauren and Cinemark to take action again Factory Mutual for allegedly failing to honour the terms of its Global Advantage All-Risk property insurance policy.
LNE has reportedly claimed the FM Global Advantage policy it secured at “significant expense” included a property damage section that is “meant to protect the insured against all risks of loss, whether known or unknown”. The entertainment giant said its policy also included cover against “loss of income following a disaster, wherever you operate, or however indirect your connection to the loss.”
The company has also highlighted other aspects of coverage in the policy it believes is relevant, including “the inability to put property to its normal use” and Civil or Military Authority coverage against losses caused by limitations placed on the company by civil or military leaders.
LNE said the pandemic had resulted in “an unprecedented and nearly complete shut-down of the live music industry” costing the promoter billions of dollars in losses. It did not specify a figure it believes it is owed by FM Global but said around 10,000 of its shows were cancelled or postponement between March and September last year, and the events would have resulted in around 37 million ticket sales.