Medical Clinics Cannot Recoup Contamination Costs from Insurer, Va. Federal Judge Rules

DANVILLE, W. Va. — A Virginia federal judge has dismissed two medical clinics’ claims to recoup COVID-19-related biocontamination and decontamination costs from their insurer, ruling that neither the virus itself nor related government restrictions caused “physical loss, damage or destruction,” as required by the policy.

However, in the Feb. 22 order, Judge Thomas T. Cullen of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia allowed the plaintiffs’ claims under the policy’s Interruption by Communicable Disease (ICD) provision to proceed.

Danville Regional Medical Center LLC (DRMC) and Clinch Valley Medical Center Inc., which operate medical centers in Virginia, …