Court: Broker not liable for COVID-19 business interruption claim denial

Rhonda Hill Wilson sued her law firm’s insurance broker, USI, after the insurer, The Hartford, denied a claim for COVID-related business interruption. (Photo: Shutterstock)

After an insurance carrier denied a lawyer and her law firm’s claim for lost business income due to the COVID-19-related shutdown, she sued both her carrier and the insurance producer that procured the policy. In one of the first cases to consider producer liability in COVID-19 cases, Judge Eduardo Robreno of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania dismissed the lawsuit against the producer and the carrier.

USI Insurance Services procured the insurance policy from The Hartford for Rhonda Hill Wilson and her law firm. The policy included coverage for lost business income and extra expense caused by direct physical loss of, or damage to property. Similarly, the policy covered lost business income if a nearby property experienced a direct physical loss that caused a civil authority to issue an order that prohibited access to the law firm’s property. The policy also included a virus exclusion “for loss or damage caused directly or indirectly by . . . [p]resence, growth, proliferation, spread or any activity of . . . virus.”