A California appeals court has dismissed Metallica’s lawsuit. The claim suggested that the band requested their insurance company to cover losses that exceed $3 million incurred from canceled concerts during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The decision was issued on March 18 by California’s Court of Appeal. The court said six COVID-cancelled shows were not covered by Metallica’s insurance policy with Lloyd’s Of London.
Metallica members argued that the case should have proceeded to trial. They cited a jury’s determination that factors unrelated to the cancellations as a reason. However, Justice Maria Stratton referenced a Taylor Swift quote from her song, ‘All Too Well.’ Stratton said:
“To paraphrase Taylor Swift: ‘We were there. We remember it all too well.’ There was no vaccine against Covid-19 in March 2020 and no drugs to treat it. Ventilators were in short supply. N-95 masks were all but non-existent. Patients were being treated in tents in hospital parking lots. The mortality rate of Covid-19 was unknown, but to give just one example of the potential fatality rate, by late March, 2020, New York City was using refrigerated trucks as temporary morgues. People were terrified.”
What Lloyd’s Representatives Said
The lawsuit originated from the cancellation of the band’s April 2020 six-date tour in South America. Ultimately, Metallica was forced to postpone the shows due to the pandemic shortly before the tour was supposed to start.
The band’s complaint stated that factors such as travel restrictions, the obligation to mitigate damages, efforts to flatten the curve, and stay-at-home orders were responsible for the cancellations.
Judge Holly J. Fujie of the Los Angeles Superior Court disagreed with Metallica’s arguments in a November 2022 ruling obtained by Billboard. She wrote:
“The travel restrictions which caused the concert cancellations were a direct response to the burgeoning COVID-19 pandemic. The evidence… demonstrates that the COVID-19 pandemic spurred the travel restrictions to South America and restrictions on public gatherings. The COVID-19 pandemic was therefore the efficient proximate cause of the concerts’ cancellations.”
A representative from Lloyd’s said in a press statement following the band’s lawsuit:
“Lloyd’s is not an insurance company, it oversees and regulates a market of independent insurers. 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.”
Metallica acknowledged Lloyd’s as ‘a market where independent insurance underwriters form syndicates to offer insurance policies, primarily through brokers, under the Lloyd’s brand.’
The court was eventually dismissed thanks to Swift’s lyrics.
