An insurance company has asked a federal court to weigh in on a coverage question about whether two policies purchased by Mark Geragos' law firm, Geragos & Geragos, cover business losses stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lawyers for Travelers Casualty Insurance Co. of America filed suit in the U.S. District Court of the Central District of California on Monday seeking a declaratory judgment that claims Geragos has made under the policies fall under "very specific exclusions" stating that losses, including business income losses, resulting from a virus or bacteria are not covered.

"Travelers understands that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the public and the vast majority of businesses throughout the country (and world) in unprecedented ways. But these challenging and unfortunate circumstances do not create insurance coverage for losses that fall outside the terms of a policyholder's insurance contract," wrote the insurer's lawyers at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and Robinson & Cole.

According to the complaint, the two policies in question specifically exclude coverage for losses or damages "caused by or resulting from any virus, bacterium or other microorganism that induces or is capable of inducing physical distress, illness or disease." The insurer's lawyers claim the policies make clear that the exclusion applies to business income, rental value and government actions. 

"There can be no doubt that the SARS-CoV-2 virus is capable of inducing physical distress, illness or disease," wrote the insurer's lawyers. "Under the plain terms of the policies, the COVID-19 pandemic is not a 'covered cause of loss.'" 

Geragos, who is well-known for representing celebrity clients, including Michael Jackson, Chris Brown and Winona Ryder, had previously hit Travelers with a wave of lawsuits in Los Angeles Superior Court on behalf of local businesses for initially denying coverage of their pandemic-related claims. In the wake of Monday's filing, Geragos took to Twitter to air his thoughts on the insurer's own lawsuit. 

"Travelers Insurance after cashing our premium checks for years decided yesterday that instead of paying our business interruption claim that they would hire a large law firm to sue us in federal court instead," he said. "Apparently, their way of adapting to a pandemic is filing lawsuits against their own insured. We welcome the opportunity to fight on behalf of small business against rank corporate greed and their legal enablers," he said.

Theodore Boutrous Jr. of Gibson Dunn, who represents Travelers in the federal lawsuit, directed a request for comment to Travelers' spokesperson. The spokesperson declined to comment.