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The previously secret Insurance Services Office (ISO) documents I mentioned in yesterday’s afternoon post, ISO Internal Documents Are Important Regarding COVID Litigation, show a few of the internal actions and analysis of coverage and what to do about a coronavirus pandemic event leading up to the Virus Exclusion Endorsement. These were never provided to the public when the pandemic struck last year, and people were asking about lost business income insurance coverage. Instead, the ISO, its executives, policy experts, and member insurance companies—including their attorneys making arguments preventing this disclosure—have had access to these previously secret documents. Importantly, they were not provided so that judges deciding these cases could consider them and determine if they were relevant and significant to their decisions.
Continue Reading How the Secret Internal ISO Documents Can Be Used to Demonstrate Coverage for Business Interruption Cases

Jean Niven recently wrote a blog post about insurance coverage cases being won or lost based on expert witnesses and the preparation of their reports and testimony.

Mama Jo’s, Inc. d/b/a Berries, has now petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an appeal of the Eleventh Circuit’s ruling1 that the restaurant is not entitled to coverage under an “all risk” commercial insurance policy for business income losses and expenses caused by construction dust and debris that migrated into the restaurant.
Continue Reading Restaurant Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Appeal of Eleventh Circuit’s Ruling on “Direct Physical Loss”

Businesses forced closed by COVID-19 and denied coverage by their insurers received a legal boost this month. In a recent North Carolina ruling, the court held that a commonly worded business interruption policy covered losses arising from closures mandated by COVID-19.
Continue Reading Court Finds Coverage for Restaurants’ COVID-19 Business Interruption Claims

As the year goes on, state and federal trial courts will continue to tackle legal issues brought on by COVID-19. One recent decision comes from the Middle District of Florida, which recently granted an insurance carrier’s Motion to Dismiss a dental practice’s Complaint brought under the business income and civil authority provisions of the policy.
Continue Reading Trial Court Grants Motion to Dismiss Complaint Based on Virus Exclusion in Policy

Note: This guest post is by Kevin Dandridge, certified OSHA instructor and owner of 1 Life Safety. He has certifications in OSHA 500, Asbestos, Lead, CFM, NFPA 70 arc Flash Instruction, disaster worker instruction, MEWP, scissor lift, forklift, and First Aid/CPR/AED instruction, as well as others.

Good morning. I hope you and your workers are doing the absolute best to stay safe during the current pandemic. Also, OSHA has released another mandate for staying safe during the crisis.
Continue Reading OSHA Compliance in a Pandemic World

My husband and I moved from New York City to Florida. Almost every summer we traveled back to New York for wedding season and this summer was no different for us. Just as the wedding season is getting into full swing, so are event cancellations due to COVID-19 pandemic. Last weekend alone, I received several calls from friends and family cancelling their weddings and baby showers until the COVID-19 outbreak has subsided. The novel coronavirus has caused major events around the world to be cancelled or postponed, further exacerbating the economic hardship.
Continue Reading Tis the Season – Cancelled Due To COVID-19!

California Congressman Mike Thompson has filed a bill to help some business owners with business income policies collect benefits for Covid-19-related losses from their insurers.1 Here is a quote from Representative Thompson’s press release explaining his reasons for filing this federal legislation:…
Continue Reading Will Recently Filed Federal Legislation for the Covid Closed Business Policyholder Have A Possibility Of Passage?

For anyone following the daily flood of developments regarding business interruption and COVID-19, insurance commentator Bill Wilson is a good source to read and follow. Astutely, his website is www.insurancecommentary.com. Mr. Wilson’s newest post, It’s Not Just About ‘Direct Physical Damage’,1 raises interesting new arguments about Civil Authority claims – a sub-coverage within business interruption. He breaks down some factors that lean both for and against civil authority coverage for COVID-19 claims based on some interesting historical research.
Continue Reading Bill Wilson’s New Commentary on ISO Civil Authority policies and Covid-19 Provides Great Fodder for Debate

With COVID-19 business closures, legislatures across the country have been grappling with new questions, including what protections may be afforded by business income insurance. As of late, members of legislatures in states like New York1 and Pennsylvania2 have all proposed legislation in favor of affording coverage for claims that might otherwise be excluded. While these bills have not passed, they may offer some indication about what legal issues could arise in the future.3…
Continue Reading State Legislatures Aim to Afford COVID-19 Coverage

A number of federal class action cases involving businesses shut down from the COVID-19 crisis have resulted in requests for federal cases to be consolidated to one court The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation will decide if that will happen.
Continue Reading What is Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) and Will It Impact Virus Business Income Claims?