coronavirusmetallica
18:13 Friday, 16 December 2022
In the latest update around the lawsuit, Metallica took a loss in the ongoing legal exchange between the metal band and their touring insurance company, a unit of Lloyd's of London, over Metallica concerts in 2020 postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
That's what Billboard reported this week. Metallica made up the dates this spring.
In 2020, Metallica nixed a six-date tour of South America due to travel restrictions that resulted from COVID's emergence. Metallica subsequently sued the insurer after it refused to compensate the band for the monetary losses. The suit has dragged on since.
Metallica filed their complaint after the insurer said that the band's standard "cancellation, abandonment and non-appearance insurance" policy was not payable because it had an exclusion clause for communicable diseases, according to Blabbermouth.
Metallica's legal team replied that the insurer "cannot conclusively say that the pandemic is the efficient proximate cause of the cancellations because there are other adequately alleged causes that are covered under the policy."
But in the latest development in the case, a judge sided with the insurer, saying the pandemic was indeed the "proximate cause of the concerts' cancellations."
"The travel restrictions which caused the concert cancellations were a direct response to the burgeoning COVID-19 pandemic," Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Holly J. Fujie stated in a Nov. 30 decision.
The judge said the evidence "demonstrates that the COVID-19 pandemic spurred the travel restrictions to South America and restrictions on public gatherings" and caused the tour to be postponed.
Metallica will release the new album 72 Seasons on April 14, 2023. The effort's first single, "Lux Æterna," arrived on Nov. 28. Metallica start another world tour next year. Get Metallica concert tickets here.
Metallica, "Lux Æterna" (Music Video)
