Stewarts

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In common with other litigation specialist law firms, Stewarts has attracted work stemming from the impact that the government’s Covid-19 lockdowns had on businesses.

Aaron Le Marquer, head of policyholder disputes, acted successfully for the owners of the event venue ExCeL London, which won a ruling against insurers over pandemic-related losses. The High Court ruled that it could claim £16 million under its insurance policy. The venue was the lead claimant in the test case, in which the court ruled in favour of policyholders, which Stewarts said could affect hundreds of thousands of businesses that could recoup tens of millions of pounds in business interruption losses from insurers.

The partner Sarah Stewart represented the majority of the families who lost their loved ones in the 2015 Shoreham Airshow disaster at the long-awaited inquest. The coroner, Penelope Schofield, ruled that the 11 men who died were “unlawfully killed when a Hawker Hunter T7 aircraft crashed while attempting an incorrectly flown looping manoeuvre”. The inquest was told that there were several actions the pilot could have, and should have, taken that would have avoided this disaster and the coroner said that a “series of gross errors” led to the deaths. The pilot, Andrew Hill, was cleared of manslaughter after a seven-week trial at the Old Bailey in 2019.