Firm Insights

How a 100-Year Pandemic Causes “Direct Physical Loss” and Triggers Business Interruption Insurance Coverage

By Aaron E. Schwartz / August 1, 2020 / Comments Off on How a 100-Year Pandemic Causes “Direct Physical Loss” and Triggers Business Interruption Insurance Coverage

Since the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the insurance industry has told anyone who will listen that business interruption insurance coverage is not available for coronavirus-related claims because there is no “direct physical loss or damage” necessary to trigger coverage. While insurers insist that direct physical damage (for instance fire, hail, landslide, or explosion) is…

Read More

A Hurricane Named Coronavirus: Why Virus Exclusions May Not Defeat COVID-19 Business Interruption Claims

By Aaron E. Schwartz / June 29, 2020 / Comments Off on A Hurricane Named Coronavirus: Why Virus Exclusions May Not Defeat COVID-19 Business Interruption Claims

To put it mildly, many businesses continue to struggle with disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Employees are prohibited from entering job sites and have taken federally authorized leave en masse, supply chains are disrupted, and state and local health authorities close all but “essential businesses.” Even for those businesses that nominally have remained open,…

Read More

Expansion of the Main Street Lending Programs: Small Businesses & Nonprofit Organizations

By Michelle F. Schwerin / June 22, 2020 / Comments Off on Expansion of the Main Street Lending Programs: Small Businesses & Nonprofit Organizations

A brief history: On April 9, 2020, the Federal Reserve published term sheets for a lending program—known as the Main Street Lending Program—for small and/or mid-size businesses. There were two separate loan programs under the Main Street Lending Program—the Main Street Lending Program and the Main Street Expanded Lending Program. But on April 30, 2020, after receiving and reviewing public…

Read More