Love it when attorneys do not read their contracts….
“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,” the law firm CEO emailed Insurance Journal. “Apparently, their way of adapting to a pandemic is filing lawsuits against their own insured.”
G&G has also filed lawsuits on behalf of several clients against Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti over his stay-at-home order.
Even if the law firm were to somehow prove their premises were ‘contaminated’ and thus quality for coverage because of ‘physical damage to their property’, the other problem is business interruption coverage is only paying the claim for the duration of the time needed to remove the physical damage subject to a 72-hour deductible. So for the law firm to get coverage under their policy, it would have to prove that its property were physically damaged by the virus and then it would get paid for however many more than 72 hours it took to clean it up. And since the law firm would likely not be able to prove any damage, the court would hold the claim denial was valid. As far as the civil authority coverage, there would have to be physical damage to another premises within one mile of the law firm.
Then there is the whole issue of the mandatory ISO exclusion in place since 2006.
So yes, the law firm has a big uphill to climb to try to get coverage. My 2 cents is they won’t.
And why isn’t this firm able to work from home? It’s not like a law firm is processing meat, stocking shelves, or building medical equipment. On line legal research, remote access to networks, video conferencing? New concepts to these folks? Is their business really interrupted? Or are they just inconvenienced; or perish the thought, a plaintiff law firm looking to make a name for themselves by winning their claim so they can attract new clients?
Good choice for an insured to sue. Not a family restaurant or some other small business, but a national law firm that should have been able to keep working. Poor ERM if they can’t.
Wow….such utter ignorance to the definition of coverage! The agents or brokers that sold you the insurance better have good E&O coverage! I am truly sorry that there is such a wide misunderstanding…..WC market is going to explode!
And by the way, premiums are a business expense so stop the nonsense!
An ole school underwriter always taught us, no matter what the company wants to call the policy, always read the exclusions first and then again at the end. I have a feeling that these high end lawyers read the leases they sign with their tenants. I can only hope that they would have read their insurance contract before signing the application or at least after receiving their policy, especially dealing with such a commercial risk.
Love it when attorneys do not read their contracts….
“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,” the law firm CEO emailed Insurance Journal. “Apparently, their way of adapting to a pandemic is filing lawsuits against their own insured.”
G&G has also filed lawsuits on behalf of several clients against Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti over his stay-at-home order.
Even if the law firm were to somehow prove their premises were ‘contaminated’ and thus quality for coverage because of ‘physical damage to their property’, the other problem is business interruption coverage is only paying the claim for the duration of the time needed to remove the physical damage subject to a 72-hour deductible. So for the law firm to get coverage under their policy, it would have to prove that its property were physically damaged by the virus and then it would get paid for however many more than 72 hours it took to clean it up. And since the law firm would likely not be able to prove any damage, the court would hold the claim denial was valid. As far as the civil authority coverage, there would have to be physical damage to another premises within one mile of the law firm.
Then there is the whole issue of the mandatory ISO exclusion in place since 2006.
So yes, the law firm has a big uphill to climb to try to get coverage. My 2 cents is they won’t.
Amen MarkK. Include my two cents with yours.
And why isn’t this firm able to work from home? It’s not like a law firm is processing meat, stocking shelves, or building medical equipment. On line legal research, remote access to networks, video conferencing? New concepts to these folks? Is their business really interrupted? Or are they just inconvenienced; or perish the thought, a plaintiff law firm looking to make a name for themselves by winning their claim so they can attract new clients?
Good choice for an insured to sue. Not a family restaurant or some other small business, but a national law firm that should have been able to keep working. Poor ERM if they can’t.
Wow….such utter ignorance to the definition of coverage! The agents or brokers that sold you the insurance better have good E&O coverage! I am truly sorry that there is such a wide misunderstanding…..WC market is going to explode!
And by the way, premiums are a business expense so stop the nonsense!
An ole school underwriter always taught us, no matter what the company wants to call the policy, always read the exclusions first and then again at the end. I have a feeling that these high end lawyers read the leases they sign with their tenants. I can only hope that they would have read their insurance contract before signing the application or at least after receiving their policy, especially dealing with such a commercial risk.