In what appears to be the first substantive appellate ruling in COVID-19-related insurance coverage litigation, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in Oral Surgeons, P.C. v. Cincinnati Insurance Co. ruled in favor of the insurer and affirmed the trial court’s order of dismissal under Iowa law. The plaintiff in Oral Surgeons, a dental practice, allegedly sustained financial losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related government orders that temporarily restricted ... Keep Reading »
Property
Consistent With Nationwide Trend, Recent Decisions Applying Louisiana Law Find COVID-19 Does Not Cause Physical Loss or Damage
Consistent with the majority of decisions in courts across the country, a number of Louisiana state and federal courts have recently held that COVID-19 does not cause physical loss or damage to property as required for coverage under most first-party property policies. In a summary judgment decision issued from the bench in Nite, Nite LLC v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s, London, a Louisiana state court considered whether the state government’s COVID-19 shutdown ... Keep Reading »
Florida Senate Passes Legislation to Reform Litigation for Property Insurance Claims
Toward the end of the 2021 Florida legislative session, the Florida Senate passed Senate Bill 76, a bill that focuses on reducing litigation related to property insurance claims and also places restrictions on companies soliciting insureds to file roof claims. At the heart of SB 76 is the implementation of a presuit requirement that any claimant (who is not an assignee of the policy) must provide written notice of intent to initiate litigation to the insurer at least ... Keep Reading »
No More Runway for Florida COVID-19 Insurance Coverage Lawsuit
Judge Raag Singhal in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida recently dismissed with prejudice a COVID-19 business interruption insurance coverage lawsuit brought by the owners of Anthony's Runway 84 - a popular restaurant near the Fort Lauderdale airport. As this blog has reported previously, there has been a tidal wave of rulings in favor of insurers in COVID-19 business interruption insurance coverage lawsuits. With Judge Singhal's dismissal with ... Keep Reading »
“Specific” Means “Specific” – Florida’s Bad Faith Statute Must Be Strictly Construed
The purpose of Florida’s “bad faith” statute is to “avoid unnecessary bad faith litigation.” To that end, the statute provides a civil remedy for any person damaged by an insurer’s conduct. However, as a condition precedent to filing suit, the policyholder must provide appropriate information to the Department of Insurance and the insurer by filing and serving a civil remedy notice (CRN). The CRN must specify the policyholder’s complaint and provide the insurer with a ... Keep Reading »
New Jersey Federal Court Holds Virus Exclusion Bars Coverage for Car Dealerships’ COVID-19 Losses; Rejects Public Policy Argument Based on Pending Legislation
We previously described a proposed New Jersey bill that was introduced to the state assembly in March 2020 that would require insurers to cover business interruption losses related to the novel coronavirus pandemic. Almost a year later, the proposed bill has yet to be voted on by the legislature — and the stalled bill is causing significant roadblocks for policyholders who wish to rely on it to escape the application of virus exclusions in property insurance policies to ... Keep Reading »
Target Data Breach Not Covered Under CGL Policy: Court Rejects “But-For” Theory for Loss of Use Damages Where There Was No Evidence of Value of the Use of Payment Cards
Following a 2013 data breach in which the credit and debit card information of more than 110 million customers was stolen or exposed, Target Corp. sought coverage from its CGL insurers for $74 million that it incurred in settlements with various banks (the credit and debit card issuers) for their costs in issuing new payment cards (both credit and debit cards) to the customers. In a recent decision on the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment, the U.S. District ... Keep Reading »
Florida Supreme Court Defines Damages Recoverable by First-Party Insureds in Actions Alleging Breach of Policy
In Citizens Property Insurance Corp. v. Manor House, LLC, the Florida Supreme Court recently answered “no” to the following question certified as a matter of “great public importance”: In a first-party breach of insurance contract action brought by an insured against its insurer, not involving suit under section 624.155, Florida Statutes, does Florida law allow the insured to recover extra-contractual, consequential damages? The case involved a dispute over property ... Keep Reading »
Florida Judges Find COVID-19 Does Not Cause Direct Physical Loss or Damage
The tidal wave of favorable rulings for insurers in COVID-19 business interruption insurance coverage lawsuits that started in 2020 is continuing in 2021. As this blog has previously explained, commercial property insurance policies generally require “direct physical loss of or damage to” the insured property to trigger business interruption coverage. In some COVID-19 business interruption insurance lawsuits, policyholders have alleged that the presence of COVID-19 on ... Keep Reading »
Texas Federal Court Finds No Coverage for Civil Authority Orders Issued in Preparation for Hurricane Harvey Because They Were Not Issued as a Result of Physical Loss or Property Damage
The United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, in the matter of Evanston Ins. Co. v. AmSpec Holding Corp., granted summary judgment in favor of Evanston Insurance Company (“Evanston”) after determining no coverage was available under a property insurance policy for Civil Authority Orders issued by the Coast Guard. No. 4:19-CV-1498, 2020 WL 6152190 (S.D. Tex. Oct. 20, 2020). AmSpec Holding Corporation (“AmSpec”) performs testing and inspection ... Keep Reading »
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