Mich. Hair Salon Not Covered for COVID-19 Losses, Federal Judge Rules

DETROIT — A Michigan federal judge has dismissed a hair salon’s COVID-19 insurance action against West Bend Mutual Insurance Co., ruling the policy’s Communicable Diseases coverage was not triggered by government closure orders because they were not issued due to an outbreak of the virus at the salon’s premises.

On April 12, Judge Sean F. Cox of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan agreed with the insurer that the order was issued as a general plan to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 throughout Michigan and was not issued in response to anything that occurred at Salon …