Intents Festival has achieved an important victory in its legal battle with five insurers. The organization took the case to court after the insurers refused to cover the damage caused by severe flooding during the 2024 edition. In an interim ruling, the court has sided with Intents on the key legal points in dispute. The final amount the insurers will have to pay will be determined at a later stage.
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In 2024, Intents Festival was hit by exceptionally heavy rainfall. Most of the festival site in Oisterwijk had already been built when the severe weather caused major problems. A quarter of the campsite eventually became unusable, leaving more than 2,100 visitors unable to stay overnight. On top of that, the organization incurred significant additional costs to ensure the festival could go ahead at all.
The total damage claim amounted to approximately €1.5 million. Intents argued that these costs were covered by its event insurance policy, which included coverage for adverse weather conditions. However, five insurers, led by Nationale-Nederlanden, refused to pay out. The organization subsequently decided to take the matter to court.
Court sides with Intents
One of the main points of dispute in the case was how the insurance policy should be interpreted. Among other things, the insurers argued that Intents could have anticipated that the prolonged wet conditions would cause problems at the festival site. There was also disagreement over whether the weather was sufficiently ‘extreme’ to fall within the scope of the insurance policy.
In its interim ruling, the court rejected those arguments. According to the judges, the decisive factor was not whether the rainfall could be classified as ‘extreme’, but whether the safety of visitors was at risk. The court concluded that this was indeed the case. Emergency exits and roads had become impassable, while the flooded campsite could no longer be used safely. The court also rejected the argument that Intents had failed to prepare adequately.
As a result, Intents has been proven right on the key legal points in dispute. The court considers claims of approximately €802,000 for measures taken to combat the flooding and around €482,000 in refunded campsite tickets to be justified. Each of the five insurers will have to pay its respective share.
Final amount yet to be determined
The case has not yet been fully concluded. Intents is also claiming more than €226,000 in lost revenue. The organization must provide additional clarification on this amount, as the insurance policy only covers the loss of net income. Any costs Intents saved due to the lower number of campsite visitors must therefore be deducted.
Intents has until 21 October to submit this calculation, after which the insurers will be given an opportunity to respond. The court will then determine the final amount to be paid.
“Sometimes someone has to say: this is where it stops”
Toine van de Ven responded on behalf of the organization with relief following the ruling. “After more than two years of legal proceedings, we have taken an important legal step: in the interim ruling, we were proven right on all points,” he wrote on LinkedIn.
According to Van de Ven, the significance of the case extends beyond Intents Festival itself. Over the past two years, one question in particular has occupied the organization: what are we actually insuring ourselves for? Despite the hundreds of hours spent on legal preparations, Intents therefore decided to continue its fight. “Sometimes someone has to say: this is where it stops,” Van de Ven said. “We decided to do that. And we’re glad we persevered!”
The organization hopes the ruling will therefore also prove significant for the wider events industry. According to Van de Ven, organizers should be able to rely on their insurance to provide coverage when a risk they have specifically insured themselves against actually materializes.
The relevance of that discussion became clear once again this summer. Several festivals were affected by extreme weather conditions and were forced to adjust their programs or even cancel entirely. The ruling in the Intents case could therefore be relevant not only to similar situations in the future, but potentially also to organizers who faced comparable circumstances and insurance claims this summer.
