Mo. Federal Judge Allows Dental Practices’ COVID-19 Coverage Action to Proceed

KANSAS CITY — A federal judge has refused to dismiss a COVID-19 business interruption coverage action filed by four Kansas City dental clinics against Owners Insurance Co. ruling that they have adequately alleged a “direct physical loss” under the policies.

In a Sept. 21 order, Judge Stephen R. Bough of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kansas said plaintiffs have plausibly pled that the COVID-19 virus physically attached itself to their dental clinics, thereby depriving them of the possession and use of those insured properties.

“Taken as a whole, Plaintiffs tender more than mere ‘naked assertions …