'Too much damage': Insurers
reject coronavirus claims
as business losses mount
Washington Times,
by
Alex Swoyer
Original Article
Posted By: Ribicon,
5/2/2020 12:12:55 PM
Billions of dollars are at stake as insurance companies clash with business owners across the country over covering losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, including lost income from the economic shutdown. Insurers have been rejecting a flood of the business interruption claims from restaurants, bars, casinos, child care centers and others shuttered by government orders, and the businesses are retaliating with a wave of lawsuits.(Snip) Business owners say they have paid into their insurance plans for years, but now, when a public health disaster hits their businesses, they are not able to reap any return. “It’s just too much money involved
Reply 1 - Posted by:
bad-hair 5/2/2020 12:19:45 PM (No. 398567)
Sooner or later the off the books money (ever see an insurance company that DIDN'T have a huge impressive New York skyscraper headquarters?) will be safe enough that they can get a Gubmint Bailout.
11 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
sanspeur 5/2/2020 12:20:14 PM (No. 398569)
lawyers on both ends of this . Employed by the insurance company & if you have to hire them to get just compensation ..lawyers win always ..
14 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
reefdiver 5/2/2020 12:31:06 PM (No. 398584)
Send the bills to China.
14 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
JHHolliday 5/2/2020 12:38:51 PM (No. 398594)
No. 3 is correct. I am a retired insurance agent. An insurance policy is a contract. The business interruption coverage they are talking about is specifically excluded if the business is forced by law to shut down. That means no coverage and the language is quite explicit. If some government, state, or federal, should attempt by order to force the insurance companies to pay claims for non-existent coverage it would be disastrous. Not only would insurance policies be null and void but every legal contract could become worthless simply because some court felt sorry for the policyholder. It would also, as 3 suggested, bankrupt the industry. With no money to pay other claims, you will be out of luck when your home burns to the ground or you are involved in a terrible accident.
26 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
Tennman 5/2/2020 1:02:26 PM (No. 398612)
Sucks to be them. If the company has business disruption coverage, then they're on the hook.
2 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
triggerberg 5/2/2020 1:34:40 PM (No. 398644)
I have a friend in the insurance business and he told me when this whole mess started that pandemics were routinely excluded from business interruption Coverage. Such coverage is available, provided one wants to pay for it separately and most do not. The one example he could cite where such a policy was in force is Wimbledon. The management group of Wimbledon took out a specific policy covering pandemics after getting severely burned by the SARS pandemic. They paid handsomely for the coverage each year since, but this year when they had to cancel the policy paid off. Without the separate, specific coverage for interruption for pandemics businesses are SOL.
13 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
DVC 5/2/2020 1:59:25 PM (No. 398669)
Which is why you should have a "rainy day fund", NOT insurance. It is sensible planning to have two or three months of ability to 'ride out' some sort of a Black Swan event which is unpredictable. If it is never used, it becomes part of your retirement account.
This was a top priority item for me when I got out of grad school and started working, more important than furniture. After six months I had enough money saved that I could start buying furniture for the apartment.
Grasshoppers versus ants.
Frankly, I wonder what kind of insurance would be even written to cover this event? Government orders your business closed.....I seriously doubt that any insurer would write a policy covering that.
6 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
Rumblehog 5/2/2020 3:01:08 PM (No. 398697)
Read your policy's "Force Majeure" clause.
3 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
LeeBertie 5/2/2020 3:28:44 PM (No. 398708)
#3 & #5 & #8, maybe others:
We will pay for the actual loss of business income you sustain due to the necessary suspension of your “operations” during the period of “restoration.” The suspension must be caused by the direct physical loss, damage, or destruction to property. The loss or damage must be caused by or result from a covered cause of loss.
and
Interruption by civil or military authority coverage is provided to the insured for the actual loss sustained by the insured during the length of time when access to such described premises is specifically prohibited by order of civil authority as a direct result of damage as insured against in the insured’s policy, to covered property on the described premises or property adjacent to the premises described in the insured’s policy.
The coverage time period most commonly stated in this endorsement is either 14 or 30 consecutive days. The carrier may also impose a waiting period that must be reached in order for coverage to attach: Common waiting periods are 24 hours, 48 hours, or 72 hours.
2 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
lakerman1 5/2/2020 4:43:40 PM (No. 398746)
many kinds of insurance policies require arbitration, rather than a court process. And arbitration awards are rarely overturned by a court.
In 31 years as an arbitrator, I had two of my decisions appealed to court. One of the two went up to the second circuit, u.s. court of appeals. In each case, my award was upheld.
1 person likes this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
stablemoney 5/2/2020 5:20:43 PM (No. 398770)
For those that would take heart from their policies covering anything, do not. The insurer's have thought of that, and imposed deductibles in such large amounts that you still will receive nothing for your premiums.
0 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
chumley 5/2/2020 5:27:17 PM (No. 398772)
This comes as no surprise. I had a legitimate homeowners claim not long after Katrina. Had been with the company for almost 30 years and never had a claim prior. They refused to pay, essentially saying "so sue us". They did blacklist me so no other company would touch me, based on the nature of the claim (water, though none got in the house). Cost me $40 k in value when I sold the place.
No good neighbor of mine.
1 person likes this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
fayebeck 5/2/2020 8:18:07 PM (No. 398889)
Since the virus stuff is an "act of god" then sue the churches.
0 people like this.
Your insurance policy is a contract. If it says you have it, you do. If it doesn't say it, you do not have coverage. Always look at "exclusions" first.
0 people like this.
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The parasitic insurance industry collects premiums with glee, is allowed to keep multiple sets of books (excluding investment income) to justify the rates they charge, then weeps to the heavens if they have to pay on a claim, forcing claimants to hire lawyers to collect. Shameful.