All eyes are on the New Jersey Supreme Court as we await oral arguments on the latest business interruption coverage dispute. In the lawsuit, an Atlantic City casino, Ocean Walk, seeks reimbursement for costs incurred during the pandemic shutdown from several insurance companies. The insurance companies denied coverage and moved to dismiss the insured’s lawsuit. The trial judge denied the motion to dismiss, finding that Ocean Walk had made a sufficient showing of coverage in its pleadings.

The Appellate Division reversed, finding that the contamination exclusion provision in ...

Baylor College of Medicine fought the good fight and won. After a three-day trial in Harris County, Texas, the jury returned a verdict against certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s, London, finding that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, caused physical loss or damage to Baylor College’s property, and that the insured had coverage for more than $48 million in business interruption, extra expense and research losses.

Policyholders that are still fighting their insurers for COVID-19 business interruption losses will want to take note of a recent policyholder win, this time from a federal court sitting in Texas.

The earliest COVID-19 insurance court rulings across the country were decided under a preliminary “motion to dismiss” standard – meaning, the courts were deciding whether the insured had a plausible claim for relief against the insurer if the insured’s allegations could be proven true, not that the insured was, in fact, entitled to coverage.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began earlier this year, policyholders have filed over a thousand lawsuits against their insurance carriers seeking coverage for business interruption losses caused by the coronavirus or resulting stay-at-home orders. 

When the COVID-19 pandemic began in the U.S., insurance coverage lawyers – both on the policyholder and insurer side of the aisle – were all bracing themselves for an onslaught of litigation, and they would all be partly right.