Credit: Shutterstock Notes From an Insurer Win in a Rare Trial Over COVID-19 Business Interruption Coverage Claims
After two weeks of trial, jurors in Santa Monica, California deliberated just 90 minutes last week before finding plaintiffs hadn't proven that the COVID-19 virus caused any direct physical loss or damage to a Venice Beach hotel—a big win for John Phillips and Brett Ingerman of DLA Piper and their client, an affiliate of Allianz.
May 04, 2023 at 07:30 AM
6 minute read
The drumbeat of early defense wins for insurers in COVID-19 business interruption cases has been—with a few notable exceptions—pretty darn steady. So much so, that I think you can count the number of those cases that have actually made it to trial on one hand.
So naturally, it caught my eye last week when lawyers at DLA Piper won a defense verdict in a business interruption trial in California state court—seemingly the state's first. After two weeks of trial and just 90 minutes of deliberations, jurors in Santa Monica found that the plaintiffs' lawyers at Barnes & Thornburg hadn't proven that the virus caused "direct physical loss or damage to property" at a Venice Beach hotel. That's a prerequisite to trigger the business income and communicable disease coverage in the property insurance policy issued by DLA's client, Allianz affiliate Fireman's Fund Insurance Co.
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