{"id":897938,"date":"2020-09-09T12:26:09","date_gmt":"2020-09-09T18:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=897938"},"modified":"2020-09-09T12:26:12","modified_gmt":"2020-09-09T18:26:12","slug":"what-is-physical-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/what-is-physical-loss\/","title":{"rendered":"What is ‘Physical Loss’? Court Opens the Door for Policy Holders"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Loren R. Taub | Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a recent decision by the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri, Southern Division, the court denied an insurance company defendant\u2019s motion to dismiss based on the assertion that COVID-19 does not result in \u201cdirect physical loss or direct physical damage\u201d[1]<\/a>\u00a0to real property because the same requires an \u201cactual, tangible, permanent, physical alteration of property.\u201d Instead, the court agreed with the plaintiff\u2019s argument that the term \u201cphysical loss<\/a>\u201d may include the loss of use of such property and the suspension of operations thereon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the case, Studio 417, Inc., et al.<\/em> (collectively, \u201cPlaintiff\u201d) v. The Cincinnati Insurance Company<\/em> (\u201cDefendant\u201d), Plaintiff, several hair salons and restaurants located in the Springfield and Kansas City metropolitan areas of Missouri brought suit against the Defendant because the Defendant denied coverage under each of the Plaintiff\u2019s \u201call-risk\u201d property insurance policies which included building and personal property coverage and business income coverage (collectively, the \u201cPolicies\u201d). The Policies provided that the Defendant would pay for any \u201caccidental [direct] physical loss\u201d or \u201caccidental [direct] physical damage\u201d to the real property (subject to exclusions from coverage set forth in the Policies which Policies in question did not include a specific exclusion to coverage from an illness caused by a virus). The terms \u201cphysical loss\u201d and \u201cphysical damage\u201d were not defined in the Policies (which is standard). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plaintiff argued that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, employees and patrons of their respective businesses may have been infected with COVID-19, that such persons could have infected the insured real properties with the virus making the same \u201cunsafe and unusable\u201d and therefore the same resulted in Plaintiff closing or significantly curtailing business at the insured properties. In addition, Plaintiff argued that Plaintiff was required to either close (e.g.<\/em>, the hair salons) or significantly curtail operations at the insured properties (e.g.<\/em>, the restaurants were limited to a take-out business) because of the local government shutdown orders (collectively, the \u201cShutdown Orders\u201d). Plaintiff alleged that the physical presence of COVID-19 and the Shutdown Orders caused a \u201cphysical loss\u201d or \u201cphysical damage\u201d to the subject properties because Plaintiff was forced to suspend or reduce business at the insured real properties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Defendant responded to Plaintiff\u2019s complaint with a motion to dismiss, arguing, in part, that the Policies provide coverage only for the loss of income which is the result of physical damage to the property \u2013 tangible, physical loss \u2013 not \u201ceconomic loss caused by governmental or other efforts to protect the public from disease\u201d and, therefore, the loss suffered by Plaintiff based on COVID-19 and the Shutdown Orders were not covered risks under the Policy. Further, Defendant argued that the broad interpretation of the words \u201cphysical loss\u201d proposed by Plaintiff (i.e.<\/em>, one that includes a loss of use of the property) would result in \u201cphysical loss\u201d being suffered \u201cwhenever a business suffers economic harm.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Court determined that since the terms \u201cphysical loss\u201d and \u201cphysical damage\u201d were not defined in the Policy, the Court could rely on the plain and ordinary meaning of such words and that the terms \u201closs\u201d and \u201cdamage\u201d are distinct terms with distinct meanings. Further, the Court held that the words \u201cphysical loss\u201d are not limited to physical destruction or alteration and that \u201cphysical loss\u201d may result when a property is \u201cuninhabitable or unusable for its intended purpose.\u201d Therefore, Plaintiff adequately alleged a direct physical loss since COVID-19 is a \u201cphysical substance\u201d that is \u201cactive on inert physical surfaces\u201d and \u201cemitted into the air\u201d and that the foregoing made the insured properties \u201cunsafe and unusable,\u201d resulting in a direct \u201cphysical loss\u201d of the insured real properties. The Court also rejected Defendant\u2019s argument that if the Plaintiff\u2019s interpretation of \u201cphysical loss\u201d were accepted, the same would result in \u201cphysical loss\u201d being found \u201cwhenever a business suffers economic harm\u201d because in this particular case the \u201cphysical loss\u201d was specifically caused by COVID-19 and the Shutdown Orders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, insurance companies have been receiving and denying claims from commercial policy holders who seek to recover business interruption insurance based on losses due to COVID-19 and various local government shutdowns. The insurance industry has argued that COVID-19 and the resulting government shutdowns are not a covered policy risk because the same does not cause \u201cdirect physical loss or damage\u201d to the insured real property and, to date, insurance companies have been largely successful in court. The Studio 417<\/em> case has opened the door for a counter-argument based on the plain meaning of the contract \u2013 that \u201closs\u201d and \u201cdamage\u201d are two distinct concepts and that the insured may suffer a \u201closs\u201d which is not a \u201ctangible physical loss\u201d of real property, and that the same may be a covered risk under the policy. The court in Studio 417<\/em> has not yet ruled on the merits of the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, since the Policy in the Studio 417<\/em> case did not have a specific virus exclusion to coverage which is an exclusion in \u201call risk\u201d policies in many states including New York, Plaintiff was able to avoid an additional and perhaps unsurmountable hurdle for policy holders seeking to recover proceeds of business interruption insurance based on COVID-19 and related government shutdown orders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the ongoing nature of the COVID-19 pandemic and the continued local government shutdowns to avoid the spread of COVID-19, we expect to see many more insurance claims by businesses who have lost all or a substantial portion of their revenue due to the pandemic, denials of coverage by insurance companies based on the \u201cphysical loss or damage\u201d policy language, and judicial review of the foregoing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[1]<\/a> All quotations in this article are language from the court decision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Loren R. Taub | Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft In a recent decision by the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri, Southern Division, the court denied an insurance company defendant\u2019s motion to dismiss based on the assertion that COVID-19 does not result in \u201cdirect physical loss or direct physical damage\u201d[1]\u00a0to real property… Continue reading What is ‘Physical Loss’? Court Opens the Door for Policy Holders<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9914],"tags":[9895,23,11292],"class_list":["post-897938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-insurance-coverage","tag-advise-consult","tag-insurance-coverage","tag-physical-loss","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat is 'Physical Loss'? 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