The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied a lawsuit from an Oklahoma Goodwill branch seeking coverage for COVID-19 business income loss.
Goodwill Industries of Oklahoma had sought to appeal its lawsuit against Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Co. to the Supreme Court after a panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals granted Philadelphia’s motion to dismiss in December 2021.
The Supreme Court did not offer an explanation in its decision to deny the lawsuit.
The 10th Circuit rejected on appeal Goodwill’s claims that its COVID-19 income losses were covered by direct physical loss of property. Because Goodwill never lost physical control of its property nor did COVID-19 destroy Goodwill’s property, its commercial policy with Philadelphia does not cover losses, the panel opined.
“The business income provision unambiguously covered only losses stemming from physical alteration or tangible dispossession of property,” the panel wrote. “Neither occurred here.”
Courts have overwhelmingly rejected COVID business interruption lawsuits with some rare exceptions.
An analysis earlier this year by Hinshaw & Culbertson law firm found that in COVid-19 litigation cases, insurers prevailed in 78 percent of state court rulings and 95 percent of federal court rulings.
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