Heavy metal legends Metallica have lost a lawsuit against their insurers for losses from the Covid outbreak, with the judge citing Taylor Swift in his ruling, reports AFP.
The band wanted $3 million to cover its bills after concerts in South America had to be cancelled in 2020 as the coronavirus swept the world.
But their insurers, Lloyd's of London, rejected their claim, saying they were not obliged to pay compensation in cases where infectious diseases caused losses.
Frontman James Hetfield and his fellow rockers filed a lawsuit in California, asking a judge to force the insurers to pay the compensation, insisting that other factors could be behind the cancellation of concerts in Argentina, Chile and Brazil.
But Judge Maria Stratton ruled this week that Metallica's claim lacked merit, saying it was "absurd to think that the concert cancellations were not the result of Covid-19."
"In March 2020, there was no vaccine for Covid-19 and no drugs to treat it.
"Ventilators were in short supply. N-95 masks were almost non-existent. Patients were being treated in tents in hospital parking lots... People were terrified."
"To paraphrase Taylor Swift, 'We were there. We remember it all too well."
Metallica, whose original lineup formed in California in the early 1980s, is one of the most influential metal bands of the last half-century. / BGNES
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