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.”
Insurance companies have a well-earned reputation for creativity when coming up with reasons to deny paying off policies. But one of the rationales used by the Cincinnati Insurance Company to reject a claim by Classy Glass, a Wisconsin-based company that operated the now-shuttered Denver Glass Academy, stands out. The firm s refusal to pay was based in part on defining COVID-19 as a pollutant. There was quite a bit of shock there, says Levi Kellogg, co-owner of Classy Glass, which has filed a lawsuit against the Cincinnati Insurance Company and two affiliates, the Cincinnati Casualty Company and the Cincinnati Indemnity Company. It felt like what they were doing was finding any way they could to weasel out.
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Insurance Operations Highlights
12% growth in first-quarter net written premiums, reflecting price increases and premium growth initiatives.
$220 million first-quarter 2021 property casualty new business written premiums, up 2%. Agencies appointed since the beginning of 2020 contributed $11 million or 5% of total new business written premiums.
$10 million first-quarter 2021 life insurance subsidiary net income, up $23 million from the first quarter of 2020, and 9% growth in first-quarter 2021 term life insurance earned premiums.
Investment and Balance Sheet Highlights
5% or $9 million increase in first-quarter 2021 pretax investment income, including a 9% increase for stock portfolio dividends and a 5% increase for bond interest income.
U S District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania: Actions Taken on March 23 pennrecord.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from pennrecord.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.