First Appellate Decision On COVID-19 Business Interruption Coverage Decided In Favor Of Insurer

By RJ Proie, Taylor DeVore & Padgett PC

On July 2, 2021, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals issued its opinion in Oral Surgeons, P.C. v. Cincinnati Ins. Co., becoming the first federal appellate court to rule on a COVID-19 case regarding a claim for business interruption coverage. The court affirmed the trial court’s dismissal of the insured’s claims for breach of contract and bad faith.

The court held that the policy’s “physical loss” trigger was not met by closures involving the pandemic.  Only actual physical loss, such as a “physical alteration, physical contamination, or physical destruction,” could trigger coverage. Read the opinion here.

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