Calif. Federal Judge Allows Salon’s COVID-19 Coverage Action to Proceed

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge has refused to dismiss a hair salon's proposed class action demanding coverage for COVID-19 business interruption losses, explaining that it is "plausible" that government closure orders caused "direct physical loss" to the insured property.

On March 4, Judge Jesus Gilberto Bernal on Thursday ruled that while Nora's Style Salon Inc. did not incur "direct physical damage," it did likely suffer “direct physical loss” in the form of loss of use as required by the policy issued by Farmers Insurance Group.

“At various points during the pandemic, Nora’s was forced to shutter, rendering its …