Wood products firm say insurer wrongfully declined claim over fire which destroyed Limerick premises
A wood products manufacturing group says an insurer has wrongfully turned down its claim for between €5.9m and €6.5m over an accidental fire which destroyed its Limerick premises last year.
Galtee Wood Products and Galtee Veneer Bonding, trading as the Galtee Group, is suing Citynet Insurance Brokers and six members of the Novae/Axis Syndicate At Lloyd's.
In the early hours of July 8 last, its premises at Cork Road, Ballylanders, Co Limerick, where 45 people work, was destroyed by the fire.
The group manufactures wood panels and related products.
A claim for between €5.9m and €6.5 was lodged with the insurers including €3.9m rebuilding costs.
Eoin Ryan, managing director of the family-owned business, says in an affidavit, that in September, lawyers for the underwriting syndicate declined to meet the claim on the policy which was fully paid up.
The reason given was that there had been a breach of a condition that a survey of the property was to be carried out within 60 days of the policy coming into force.
It was also claimed there was a breach of a condition relating to the fire alarm system but this was subsequently dropped.
Mr Ryan says the brokers, Citynet, acted in error in including the property survey clause in the policy.
Citynet was never instructed to do so and it also failed to inform Galtee of this when it had done so, he says.
Notwithstanding this, he says, the syndicate "have wrongfully and opportunistically" refused to provide cover under the policy.
There was a particular urgency to having this matter expeditiously resolved, he says.
The fire has had a dramatic negative impact on turnover and there is a danger it will be unable to meet its €25,000 weekly wage bill.
Mr Justice Robert Haughton admitted the case to the Commercial Court list today.
