U.S. property insurers have won a flurry of judicial rulings backing up their rejections of claims for businesses’ lost income during government-ordered shutdowns, dimming policyholders’ hopes of payments to help them rebound, the Wall Street Journal reported. In recent weeks, insurers have won more rulings than policyholders as the courts begin to work through more than 1,000 COVID-19 business-interruption coverage disputes. Still, policyholders scored success in a federal court in Missouri, boosting efforts to interpret property insurance as covering claims from the coronavirus. Across the U.S., restaurants, hair salons, retailers and other businesses are seeking policy proceeds to deal with the huge economic cost of the shutdowns, in one of the biggest fights the insurance industry has ever waged with its policyholders. In the rulings, the judges sympathize with businesses’ plight, but most so far support insurers’ legal arguments. Insurers say the policies are intended to help policyholders as they recover from events, such as fires, that lead to repairs and rebuilding, and were never intended to cover virus-related claims. Read more. (Subscription required.)
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