May.24.2021
Courts Dismiss COVID-19 Business Interruption Claims
On May 13, 2021, the district court for the Northern District of Georgia granted American Family Insurance Company’s and Midvale Indemnity Company’s motion to dismiss a COVID-19 business interruption claim filed by the operators of two barbeque restaurants. The court concluded that the plain meaning of the phrase “direct physical loss” requires that there be “actual, physical damage to the covered premises” and the plaintiffs failed to allege any change to the physical condition of property due to COVID-19 closure orders. Order at 11. The court further found that the policy’s unambiguous virus exclusion bars coverage because the plaintiffs “claim no losses that were not caused, at least indirectly, by the virus.”