University of Exeter loses WW2 bomb insurance claim
The court of appeal has upheld the original judgment by the High Court
The University of Exeter has lost a legal challenge to make insurers pay out for damage caused by a World War Two bomb.
The unexploded 1,000kg (2,200lb) bomb was uncovered by contractors working on a construction site near the University campus in February 2021.
Exeter claimed under an Allianz Insurance policy after university property suffered "significant" damage when the bomb was disposed of in a "controlled detonation", judges heard.
Allianz declined the claim, saying loss fell within the scope of a "war exclusion" clause.
Earlier this year, a judge at the High Court ruled in favour of the insurer and the university brought its case to the Court of Appeal.
Exeter said the cause of the loss was "the deliberate act of the bomb disposal team in detonating the bomb".
However, Allianz argued that the dropping of the bomb - an "act of war" - caused the university's loss.
In a ruling on Thursday, three appeal judges dismissed Exeter's appeal.
Lord Justice Coulson, sitting with Lord Justice Lewison and Lord Justice Snowden, said: "The loss and damage in February 2021 resulted from two concurrent causes of approximately equal efficacy.
"One was the dropping of the bomb in 1942.
"The other was its controlled detonation almost 80 years later.
"It was the combination of these two causes which made the loss inevitable, or at least in the ordinary course of events. Neither would have caused the loss without the other."