MDL Judge Allows COVID-19 Business Interruption Claims to Proceed Against Society Insurance

CHICAGO — The judge overseeing the Society Insurance Co. COVID-19 MDL docket has refused to dismiss claims for business interruption coverage filed by several restaurants, bars and theatres, ruling that the phrase “direct physical loss of or damage to” insured property does not require “a tangible change to the physical characteristics of property.”

In a Feb. 22 order, Judge Edmond E. Chang of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois further held that the plaintiffs could have sustained a “loss” of their properties as required by the policies because they were not able to use them as …