COVID-19 Legal Updates

In the last week, two federal district courts have denied insurers' motion to dismiss COVID-19 related lawsuits filed by insureds. The first court applied its previous definition of what constitutes a "physical loss" to hold the insureds stated a claim for relief while the other court found there was no binding state law case interpreting the policy's Virus Exclusion allowing it to make a coverage decision on a motion to dismiss. ... Continue Reading

On July 1, 2020, Michigan Circuit Court Judge Joyce Draganchuk issued what it appears to be to be the first U.S. court decision in an insured's first party property lawsuit against an insurance carrier seeking business interruption coverage as a result of a governor's shelter-in-place order. See Gavrilides Management Company v. Michigan Insurance Company. The insurer filed a motion for summary disposition asking the Michigan Court to rule as a matter of law that its policy did not provide coverage for business interruption losses caused by COVID-19 shelter-in-place order. Judge Draganchuk agreed with the insurer. The hearing on the motion is posted on You Tube. ... Continue Reading

This article is the third of several articles addressing the various cyber insurance coverage issues that might arise in connection with a claim relating to data/security breaches. The focus of this article explores the types of damages that are not covered under the typical cyber insurance policy when there is a covered data/security breach. ... Continue Reading

This article is the second of several articles addressing various cyber insurance issues that may arise in connection with a company's claim relating to data breaches. The focus of this article explores the type of damages covered under the typical cyber insurance policy when there is a covered data breach. ... Continue Reading

In light of the shelter-in-place orders issued by the state, counties and municipalities across the country, a significant number of businesses allowed most of their employees to work remotely. While working remotely has reduced the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace, employees may not be as diligent with cyber security while working from home. As a result, employers should be concerned that the increased remote access by employees may make their network ripe for cyber-attacks. According to a 2018 Security Tracker Study conducted by Shred-it, 86% of C-Suite executives and 60% of small business owners agree that the risk of a data breach is higher when employees work off-site than when they work at the office. In light of these concerns, employers must not only implement an effective remote work from home policy, employers must be aware of the possible cyber insurance issues that might exclude or otherwise limit coverage for a remote cyber breach. ... Continue Reading