Metallica sues insurer over losses from shows postponed due to Covid

By KCAL/KCBS Staff

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    LOS ANGELES (KCAL, KCBS) — Metallica is suing Lloyd’s of London for allegedly refusing to compensate the band for financial losses suffered when the group was forced to postpone six shows in South America last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The band brought the action Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging breach of contract and seeking unspecified compensatory damages as well as a declaration of the rights and obligations of the parties.

On Thursday, a Lloyd’s of London representative issued a statement saying, “Lloyd’s is not an insurance company, it oversees and regulates a market of independent insurers,” the statement read. “For that reason, we have no information on any specific policy or lawsuit and in any event are not authorized to comment on matters in litigation.”

In September 2019, Metallica kicked off an eight-show tour with two shows in San Francisco and six set for South America beginning in April 2020 in Santiago, Chile, the suit states.

According to the suit, Metallica had to postpone those last six shows due to COVID travel restrictions.

Before the tour, Metallica bought a standard “cancellation, abandonment and non-appearance insurance” policy in case any portion of the tour was canceled or postponed and the band “timely turned to (Lloyd’s) for the promised and reasonably expected coverage for their losses,” the suit says.

However, Lloyd’s, citing the policy’s communicable disease exclusion, “denied any coverage obligation whatsoever based on an unreasonably restrictive interpretation of the policy,” according to the band’s court papers.

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