On March 24, 2020, the Massachusetts and Ohio legislatures proposed bills that would provide insurance coverage to small businesses for business interruption losses sustained during the COVID-19 pandemic. These new developments come less than two weeks after New Jersey became the first state in the nation to introduce legislation on this issue. The Ohio bill, […]

No person or industry in the world will go unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Two related industries that are being hit the hardest are the hospitality and the commercial real estate industries. The hospitality industry is comprised of four segments: food and beverage (F&B), travel and tourism, lodging, and recreation. These four segments often overlap […]

Boston’s recent decision to temporarily shut down city construction projects has many in the industry asking what impact, if any, a COVID-19 related shutdown would have on project insurance. For this article, the focus is not on the question of whether there is coverage for damages or liabilities because of COVID-19; there are many other […]

Every day brings new challenges and concerns as the world grapples with the novel coronavirus. Businesses are already looking to their insurance portfolio as a way to lessen the anticipated impact on their bottom line. Policyholder and insurer side litigators alike seem to agree that we will likely see coronavirus-related coverage issues litigated for years, […]

On Monday, the iconic New Orleans restaurant, Oceana Grill, filed the first Coronavirus-related business interruption insurance coverage lawsuit in a US jurisdiction. The declaratory judgment action styled Cajun Conti, LLC, et. al. d/b/a Oceana Grill v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s, London was filed in Louisiana state court for the Parish of Orleans. As a direct […]

New Jersey is discussing draft legislation that would require certain property insurers to provide coverage for business interruption losses resulting from the Coronavirus pandemic. If approved, N.J. Draft Bill A-3844 (the “Bill”) would have immediate effect and apply retroactively to insurance policies in force on March 9, 2020 that insure against loss or damage to […]

Every state but West Virginia have reported hundreds of Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in the U.S. More than half are in California, Washington, New York, and Massachusetts. The unprecedented social and economic impact of the Coronavirus makes it necessary for policyholders to keep open all lines of communications with their insurance brokers, insurance carriers, financial advisors, […]

Water damage, while one of the leading causes of loss under a property policy, often results in some of the most complex claims due to the intersection of exclusions, sublimits, and complex wording within the policy. One particularly difficult issue is whether water damage caused by a storm surge is covered by the flood sublimit, […]

What do you do when less is more? In many loss scenarios, triggering coverage under multiple policies can be a critical and effective strategy. However, doing so has the potential to complicate the insurance recovery proceedings immensely, and possibly even undermine those overall goals. The relation of “other insurance” clauses, allocation schemes, and the practical […]