COVID-19 Did Not Cause ‘Physical Loss of or Damage,’ Mass. Federal Judge Rules

BOSTON — A Massachusetts federal judge has dismissed a real estate company’s COVID-19 coverage action, ruling that government orders requiring the temporary suspension of the plaintiff’s business did not cause “direct physical loss of or damage to” property, as required by the policy.

In a Feb. 19 order, Judge Richard Stearns of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts agreed with General Star Indemnity Co. that the policy language “does not encompass an intangible loss caused by the fleeting (and speculative) presence of a virus on a premises.”

SAS International Ltd. operates a real estate business in …