Postponed Events, Cancelled Trips, Disrupted Business – Insurance and Coronavirus Collide – 44th Street Podcast

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Featuring: 

Lindsay Kassof, in-house counsel for the Muscular Dystrophy Foundation and member of the City Bar’s Health Law Committee, moderator. 

Alan Borst, a New York attorney and insurance professional with experience in the management and professional liability industry, and member of the City Bar’s Insurance Law Committee.

Anthony Crawford, an associate in insurance coverage with Reed Smith, serving a wide array of clients ranging from banking and financial institutions to religious organizations.

Frederick Pomerantz, an AM Best recommended insurance counsel with forty years of industry experience, and member of the City Bar’s Insurance Law Committee.

Gary Svirsky, a partner at O’Melveny who represents clients in all types of complex commercial cases, with a special focus on disputes involving insurance coverage, distressed debt, investments and various sophisticated securities, and member of the City Bar’s Insurance Law Committee.

Janine Panchok-Berry, an associate at O’melveny, focusing on complex litigation and transactions involving insurance and environmental law. 

Citations

1. Roundabout Theatre v. Continental Casualty 302 A.D.2d 1 (First Department 2002) (First Department reverses and finds no coverage for business interruption for order closing the street)
2. The French Laundry v. Hartford Fire et al (Sup Ct. Cal., County of Napa) Complaint for Declaratory Judgment, Case No. __ March 25,2020.
3. “Famed restaurant sues Hartford after forced closure” Business Insurance March 26, 2020
4. New York State Assembly A-10226 “AN ACT in relation to requiring certain perils be covered under business interruption insurance during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)”
5. Section 1. “…every policy of insurance insuring against loss or damage to property, shall be construed to include among covered perils …coverage for business interruption during a period of declared state emergency due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic”
6. § 4.   “This act shall take effect immediately, and shall be deemed to have been in full force and effect on and after March 7, 2020.”  (i.e. more than two weeks before the widespread forced shutdown of retail businesses in New York City on 3/22.)
7. New York State Assembly, A-10226 Memo Summary of Bill A-10226 “Bill would apply to businesses covered with less than 100 eligible employees in the State of New York”
8. A-10226, § 2. (b) The superintendent of financial serves shall incorporate in these  procedures such standards as are necessary to protect against the submission of fraudulent claims by insureds, and appropriate safeguards for insurers to employ in the review and payment of such claims.
9. “No State shall …. Pass any … Law impairing the Obligation of contracts” 1, §1
10. Managing Through Crisis: What is Crisis Management, 3/19/2020, youtube.com/watch?v=1evSfmArTRQ, Prof. Dutch Leonard, Harvard Business School