Philly Auto Tag Business Failed to Allege ‘Physical Loss or Damage to’ Premises, Federal Judge Rules

PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge has dismissed a Philadelphia auto tag business’s COVID-19 business interruption coverage action against Selective Insurance Company of the Southeast on the basis that the complaint did not allege “physical loss or damage to” its insured premises.

In a Jan. 27 order Judge Gene E.K. Pratter of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania alternatively ruled that the policy’s Virus Exclusion bars coverage because the government closure orders requiring the auto tag business to temporarily close were issued in response to the COVID-19 virus.

However, the judge granted Frank Van’s leave to amend …