Covid-versary…Is there cake?
Covid-versary…Is there cake?

COVID-19 has challenged Americans over the past year in ways that are reminiscent of war times past. There has been much stress and suffering. Sunnier skies lie ahead, but the one year anniversary is far from the end of the recovery work that needs to…
JPML Won’t Centralize All COVID-19 Insurance Cases
JPML Won’t Centralize All COVID-19 Insurance Cases

Law360 (August 12, 2020, 4:46 PM EDT) — The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation rejected Wednesday two petitions to centralize hundreds of cases filed by businesses seeking insurance coverage for losses during the COVID-19 pandemic, but indicated that centralization could still be appropriate for cases…
MDL Panel Considers Consolidation of COVID-19 Business Interruption Claims
MDL Panel Considers Consolidation of COVID-19 Business Interruption Claims

On July 30, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation held a Zoom hearing on a motion filed by plaintiffs’ lawyers to consolidate hundreds of business interruption claims filed across the country. The Panel permitted a number of plaintiffs’ counsel and two insurers’ counsel to each…
JPML Questions If One Size Fits All For Virus Cases
JPML Questions If One Size Fits All For Virus Cases

Law360 (July 30, 2020, 4:43 PM EDT) — A member of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation questioned Thursday whether key business interruption policy language could be construed the same way under the laws of all 50 states as the panel mulled requests to centralize…
Dozens of attorneys primed to make or break the case for novel COVID-19 business interruption MDL
Dozens of attorneys primed to make or break the case for novel COVID-19 business interruption MDL

(Reuters) – At least 40 attorneys have signed up to argue Thursday as the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation weighs petitions to create an MDL for nearly 270 lawsuits seeking Business Interruption (BI) insurance coverage for losses from coronavirus contamination or government orders restricting their…
All Roads Lead to the JPMDL: Another COVID-19 Business Interruption Declaratory Judgment Is Stayed Pending MDL Decision
All Roads Lead to the JPMDL: Another COVID-19 Business Interruption Declaratory Judgment Is Stayed Pending MDL Decision

Insurers nationwide are awaiting the forthcoming decision of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation JPMDL) on consolidating COVID-19 business interruption coverage lawsuits. In the meantime, some federal courts are staying proceedings, declining to rule on fully-briefed motions and deferring decisions that could bring clarity to…
A Primer On The Push To Combine COVID-19 Coverage Cases
A Primer On The Push To Combine COVID-19 Coverage Cases

Law360 June 9, 2020, 7:00 PM EDT) — Insurers and policyholders have weighed in on two petitions to centralize disputes over businesses’ coronavirus-related losses in multidistrict litigation, with supporters touting the efficiency of consolidation and opponents arguing that differences in companies’ policies and claims make…
Insurance Covers Vandalism, But Not COVID-19 Claims
Insurance Covers Vandalism, But Not COVID-19 Claims

SAN FRANCISCO—On Thursday, June 4, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in insurance claims filed by businesses in the Bay Area, but some insurance companies have been denying the payouts. “Almost all business ranging from small to medium to…
Insurance companies deny COVID-19 claims, but cover vandalism damage
Insurance companies deny COVID-19 claims, but cover vandalism damage

SAN FRANCISCO KGO) — Businesses across the nation have been devastated by the COVID-19 shutdown. Now, many are suffering the added losses of vandalism and looting. But an odd twist to the dual crises: insurance. Businesses were outraged to find their insurance refused to cover…
Insurers challenged for denying business-interruption coverage during coronavirus economic lockdown
Insurers challenged for denying business-interruption coverage during coronavirus economic lockdown

In a shot over the bow and precursor of a long, upcoming legal battle, the California insurance commissioner on April 14 issued an order requiring carriers to investigate claims filed by businesses seeking relief for losses incurred from government shutdowns as the result of the…
Spread the word about our COVID-19 Loss Recovery Library
Spread the word about our COVID-19 Loss Recovery Library

Our COVID-19 Loss Recovery library is designed to help small businesses collect all available insurance benefits to offset their losses and get back on their feet. Just as we help individuals after disasters, we are helping the businesses that are a vital part of our…
CA high court upholds right to paid-for business insurance protection
CA high court upholds right to paid-for business insurance protection

In a time when U.S. businesses are turning to courts across the U.S. to enforce their rights to insurance protection for COVID-19 losses, the CA Supreme Court delivered them a win this week in a long-simmering, high stakes battle over coverage in a different context…
Sonoma County businesses with pandemic-related losses hit wall with commercial insurers
Sonoma County businesses with pandemic-related losses hit wall with commercial insurers

In the aftermath of the power shut-offs during the October 2019 wildfire, Berlin Fisher realized he needed to get business interruption insurance coverage for his West County Style Bar in Guerneville because another disaster could put his hair salon on precarious financial footing. Fisher had…
Business interruption insurance falls short in a pandemic
Business interruption insurance falls short in a pandemic

When Salvatore Ferro saw his Commack-based home remodeling business plummet by more than half due to the coronavirus pandemic, he contacted his insurance broker to find out how to make a claim on his business interruption insurance. He was shocked to learn the policy –…
Can businesses rely on insurance to overcome COVID-19 losses?
Can businesses rely on insurance to overcome COVID-19 losses?

The short answer is, for many it will be a fight. Bottom line:  Don’t take no for an answer until you’ve exhausted all arguments and avenues for help.  And there are many of them. United Policyholders is hard at work curating solid guidance to arm businesses…
North Bay floods alert businesses to uncover the quirks of their insurance coverage
North Bay floods alert businesses to uncover the quirks of their insurance coverage

As North Bay business owners directly impacted by last month’s floods push through massive recovery efforts, they’re also having to deal with the fact that part of their business insurance coverage is useless. That part of the coverage is called business interruption insurance, part of…
A coverage win for energy sector policyholders
A coverage win for energy sector policyholders

In a significant win for all policyholders in the energy sector, the Supreme Court of Texas reversed a lower appellate court ruling which allowed a consortium of Lloyd’s underwriters to limit their indemnity obligations to pay for defense expenses incurred by Anadarko Petroleum Corporation and…
How claims SHOULD be handled
How claims SHOULD be handled

Although this is an insurance company advertisement, and the policyholder is clearly reading from a script presumably written by the insurance company, it highlights how claims should be handled, and how they shouldn’t.  We at UP fully recognize that catastrophe claims put strains on insurance company resources, and…