A bridal shop in Ohio has filed a business interruption class action lawsuit against its insurer, saying it wrongly denied a claim for compensation after the coronavirus halted the store’s business.

The business interruption class action lawsuit was filed by Bridal Expressions LLC which owns and operates CLE Bride by Expressions, a bridal boutique located in Mentor, Ohio.

Allegedly, Bridal Expressions purchased insurance coverage from Owners Insurance Company to protect against business losses that might occur for reasons outside of the business’ control.

However, the insurer has reportedly refused to pay for coronavirus business losses, which Bridal Expressions says is a violation of their insurance policy coverage.

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The business interruption plan that Bridal Expressions allegedly purchased — Special Property Coverage — is designed to provide the policyholder with “business income” coverage, paying for losses that might be incurred if business operations need to be suspended.

The policy also reportedly provides “extra expense” coverage, to pay the expenses needed to minimize business suspension.

The COVID-19 business interruption class action lawsuit explains that Bridal Expressions was forced to suspend its operations in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Additionally, the business says that it was required to take steps to minimize how much they had to pause their operations, as well as to prevent further damage to the health of the business.

Bridal Expressions says that it sought coverage under its insurance policy on March 16, 2020. Allegedly, the business was denied such coverage the same day. According to the bridal company, Owners Insurance Company has uniformly denied claims for COVID-19 business losses.

The Ohio coronavirus class action lawsuit explains that Bridal Expressions’ business interruption policy is an all-risk property damage policies, meaning it is not designed to cover one particular type of loss, but broadly to cover many different types of losses. Like others of its kind, this policy did include exceptions for certain kinds of losses, the bridal company states.

According to the Ohio business interruption class action lawsuit, the Owners Insurance Company did include an exclusion for losses related to viruses, but the exclusion does not apply to the kind of coverage sought by Bridal Expressions. The bridal shop says the terms of the insurance policy should cover the type of compensation sought by the business.

Bridal Expressions cites the Communicable Diseases Exclusion, which says that coverage for business liability, medical expenses, bodily injury, and personal injury are not covered.

However, Bridal Expressions explains that these exceptions apply only to the liability sections of the policy and not the property section of the policy.

Allegedly, the insurer did not exclude or limit coverage for losses from viruses in the Special Property Coverage Form.

Bridal Expressions says that this is the part of the business interruption plan under which the business seeks benefits.

The Ohio bridal shop class action lawsuit claims that losses due to COVID-19 are indeed a covered cause of loss under the insurer’s policies in the Special Property Coverage Form.

Allegedly, Owners Insurance Company agreed to pay for actual loss of Business Income “sustained due to the necessary suspension of its operations during the ‘period of restoration’ caused by direct physical loss or damage.”

To support the claim that COVID-19 losses are indeed covered, Bridal Expressions notes that the insurance industry has recognized that the effects of viruses and disease on a property do indeed constitute a physical damage.

In particular, the Insurance Services Office, which the plaintiff calls a leading source for insurance risk information, spoke to the costs associated with viruses in a message to the Ohio insurers. ISO informs insurers that viruses can make products impure and can compromise a business environment. According to these experts, costs associated with viruses can include business interruption, decontamination costs, loss of property, and others.

Now, the bridal shop seeks business interruption insurance benefits not only for itself, but for similarly affected businesses who were also denied coverage. According to Bridal Expressions, Owners Insurance Company’s failure to pay benefits represented a breach of contract, as well as violates federal law.

Bridal Expressions is represented by Mark A. DiCello, Kenneth P. Abbarno, Mark Abramowitz, Adam J. Levitt, Amy E. Keller, Daniel R. Ferri,  Mark Hamill, and Laura E. Reasons of DiCello Levitt Gutzler LLC.

The COVID-19 Bridal Shop Business Interruption Class Action Lawsuit is Bridal Expressions LLC v. Owners Insurance Company, Case No. 1:20-cv-00833-SO, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.

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