Business Interruption and First-Party Property Coverage After Hurricanes, Floods: Issues for Insurers and Insureds
Flood Exclusions, Concurrent Causation, Business Interruption Losses, and Off-Premises Coverage
Course Details
- smart_display Format
On-Demand
- signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level
- work Practice Area
Insurance
- event Date
Tuesday, December 7, 2021
- schedule Time
1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT
- timer Program Length
90 minutes
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This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.
This CLE course will discuss the unique commercial property insurance coverage issues that insurers and policyholders face when responding to claimed losses arising from natural disasters like hurricanes and floods. The panel will discuss the deductibles and exclusions that most often create coverage disputes and why, the differences between direct and contingent business interruption coverage, and controversies over business interruption coverage at the insured site and from off-premises damage. The program will offer best strategies for submitting and receiving claims based on lessons learned over the past decade.
Mr. DeMeo handles insurance litigation, including claims stemming from large-scale natural and man-made disasters. He has extensive experience with complex and high-exposure property and general liability insurance claims and litigation, including class action lawsuits, domestically and internationally. Before joining the firm Mr. DeMeo was Assistant Vice President and Managing Counsel at Travelers Property Casualty Company, where he oversaw all commercial property insurance litigation nationwide, including bad faith lawsuits arising from property insurance claims. He directly supervised the World Trade Center property insurance litigation and oversaw all litigation arising from Hurricane Katrina.
Hurricanes and similar weather-related disasters trigger unique commercial property insurance coverage issues. Flooding and storm surge exclusions, along with "anti-concurrent causation" provisions, present hurdles for policyholders who suffer catastrophic losses.
Insureds not only incur business interruption losses due to physical damage at the insured location but may also sustain loss due to damage to off-premises businesses servicing the insured, or on which the insured relies to attract customers to its business.
Off-premises losses may be covered by contingent business interruption insurance, which covers losses due to damage to the insured's customers, suppliers, and nearby flagship businesses. The scope of such coverage varies among policies. Under certain circumstances, coverages for civil authority and ingress and egress may be available to cover business losses due to road closings, curfews, and transportation shutdowns mandated by civil authorities.
Listen as our authoritative panel of insurance practitioners analyzes coverage issues arising from natural disasters under commercial first-party property insurance policies.
- First-party property coverage
- Named storm deductibles and sub limits
- Storm damage vs. flooding
- Concurrent cause, efficient proximate cause, and anti-concurrent cause policy provisions
- Business interruption coverage
- Period of restoration: when it begins, ends, actual vs. theoretical time, extended period of indemnity
- Requirement of direct physical loss or damage
- Ordinance or law coverage and exclusions
- Actual v. anticipated post-loss market conditions
- Contingent business interruption and other additional coverages
- Contingent business interruption – damage/disruption to vendors, supply chains, dependent properties
- Off-Premises utility interruption coverage
- Civil authority interruptions
- Impairments to ingress and egress
The panel will review these and other key issues:
- How do courts treat flood and storm surge exclusions and "anti-concurrent causation" policy provisions?
- How will the specific business interruption policy language affect the appropriate "period of restoration" and the suitable location of the insured's business?
- How many “occurrences” of loss (and deductibles) arise from an event or series of events that occur over time?
- How do post-storm changes in the local or regional economy affect an individual insured’s business interruption claim?
- What constitutes a “supplier” for purposes of contingent business interruption coverage?
