COVID-19 Business Interruption Claims at a Crossroads: Insurance Policy Limitations May Require Businesses to Sue Now or Risk Losing their Claims

We’ve written before about the perils of contractual limitations periods in insurance policies. See http://bizinsandouts.com/2019/04/04/policyholders-should-be-prepared-to-address-short-limitations-periods-under-property-business-interruption-policies-or-risk-of-losing-their-rights-to-coverage/ ; http://bizinsandouts.com/2019/06/13/policyholders-beware-courts-continue-to-enforce-short-limitations-periods-to-dismiss-property-insurance-lawsuits/ The problem is that, while state law may provide a statute of limitations period of five years or more, from when the insurer refuses to provide coverage, insurers often add provisions to their Read More

Rulings in Missouri Federal Court Hold COVID-19 Business Interruption Losses May Constitute “Physical Loss” Under Property Insurance Policies

Since the onset of the pandemic, we’ve written a series of posts on insurance coverage for COVID-19 related losses. In our April 23 post, we wrote that, despite articles expressing a dim view of the possibility of coverage for COVID-19 related business interruption losses, there were many reasons to consider Read More

Another Wave of COVID-19 Closings: Do Businesses Need to Submit Another Round of Claims to their Insurers?

In our last post, we said that there are many reasons why a business should consider submitting a claim to their insurer for COVID-19 related business interruption losses. See http://bizinsandouts.com/2020/04/23/advice-about-business-interruption-insurance-coverage-for-covid-19-related-losses/. At the time, many businesses had suffered losses due to a suspension of operations beginning in mid-March. Some businesses already Read More

Advice about Business Interruption Insurance Coverage for COVID-19 Related Losses

Since mid-March 2020, many U.S. businesses have suffered business interruption-related losses from the COVID-19 pandemic and associated government orders. Much has been written in the popular, legal, and insurance industry press about the potential of insurance coverage for these  losses under property insurance policies. Some articles express a dim view Read More

You gotta be kidding me! Our insurer denied coverage. We sued. We settled. The insurer paid. Now the insurer has billed us for the settlement payment. Help!

Many businesses have large deductible (e.g., $500,000, $1,000,000, or more) casualty insurance programs encompassing commercial general liability, product liability, business auto or workers comp/employers liability insurance coverages. Depending on the program structure, the insurer may provide first dollar coverage and charge the business client back for the deductible. Under this Read More