Travelers’ Unit Achieves Multiple Business Interruption Wins
The District of New Jersey recently issued multiple decisions concluding that an insurance policy’s virus exclusions barred a policyholders’ coverage of losses arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, handing multiple victories to Walsh client, Travelers’ subsidiary Charter Oak Fire Insurance Co.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Michael A. Shipp cited the exclusion in dismissing a steel businesses’ suit against Travelers’ Charter Oak, two days after U.S. District Judge Esther Salas granted Charter Oak’s motion to dismiss a proposed class action from J.G. Optical Inc. with respect to the financial blow it suffered by ceasing operations as a result of government restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19 in the Garden State.
The rulings add to Travelers’ winning record in New Jersey federal cases where judges have declared that virus exclusions precluded coverage for pandemic-related losses, including Carpe Diem Spa, Inc. v. Travelers, No. 20-cv-14860-AET-TJB and Chester C. Chianese DDS, LLC v. Travelers, et al., No. 20-cv-05702-MAS-ZNQ.
Walsh attorneys Liza M. Walsh and William T. Walsh, Jr., and co-counsel Stephen Goldman, Wystan Ackerman and Denis O’Malley of Robinson & Cole, represented Travelers and Charter Oak.
More details on this case may be found on Law 360: