New CA Insurance Case

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Can a COVID-19 Shutdown be Covered?

In 2022 the California Courts of Appeal published many decisions dealing with the issue of whether a COVID-19 business shutdown is covered under an insurance policy. Last month, the First District Court of Appeal published an important new decision addressing this issue. To find out what they decided, watch the video and read my case summary below.

New CA Insurance Decision  

John's Grill v. Hartford Financial Services Group (2022) _ Cal.App.5th _ , 2022 WL 17959561: The Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s order granting defendant Hartford Financial Services Group (HFSG’s) motion to quash service of summons, but it reversed the trial court’s order sustaining defendant Sentinel Insurance Company, Ltd. (Sentinel)’s demurer, without leave to amend, to restaurant plaintiff’s complaint alleging wrongful denial of its claim for business interruption coverage for losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. After full briefing, argument and submission of the appeal, the parties settled the case and asked for the appeal to be dismissed. Court of Appeal declined to dismiss because the appeal raised issues of continuing public interest which were likely to recur, and filed its opinion. The Court of Appeal held the trial court properly granted HFSG’s motion to quash, because plaintiff failed to present sufficient evidence to show jurisdiction over HFSG because HFSG was not a party to the insurance policy and was only a holding company that indirectly owned Sentinel. However, the trial court erred in sustaining Sentinel’s demurrer without leave to amend. Unlike many other policies discussed in recent published opinions, the Sentinel policy had language providing coverage for loss due to a virus, if the virus was caused by one of a number of listed causes (the Specified Causes Clause). Any other damage caused by a virus was excluded from coverage. The Court of Appeal concluded that the insuring agreement providing virus coverage, construed according to the reasonable expectations of an insured, was broad enough to encompass forms of property loss not involving physical alteration of property. Plaintiff alleged enough that it should have been granted leave to amend to plead that its claim fell within the scope of the virus coverage. The Court of Appeal ruled that the Specified Causes Clause, if construed and applied expansively as requested by Sentinel, would leave plaintiff with no virus coverage at all and was therefore unenforceable under the illusory coverage doctrine. Finally, the Court of Appeal concluded it was premature to determine whether the virus exclusion applied until the cause of the virus was determined. (C.A. 1st, December 27, 2022.)

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Mediation, Arbitration & Referee Services

I help attorneys and their clients settle cases as a mediator, and decide cases or issues as an arbitrator or referee at ADR Services, Inc. I handle cases in the areas of business, employment, insurance bad faith, insurance coverage, legal malpractice, medical malpractice, personal injury, real property and wrongful death. I conduct Zoom and in-person hearings throughout California.
To schedule a matter, please contact my case managers at ADR Services, Inc., Haward Cho, (213) 683-1600, [email protected] or Rachael Boughan, (619) 233-1323, 
[email protected]. 

Stay safe and healthy.

Best regards,
Monty A. McIntyre, Esq.
California Case Summaries™
Mediator, Arbitrator & Referee
Master Lawyer Mentoring™
CA Civil Trial Attorney Since 1980
ABOTA Member Since 1995
Past President San Diego County Bar Assn., SD ABOTA Chapter
Phone: (619) 990-4312.
Email: [email protected]