N.C. College Not Entitled to COVID-19 Coverage from Travelers, Federal Judge Rules

GREENSBORO, N.C. — A North Carolina federal judge has dismissed Guilford College’s COVID-19 insurance action, ruling that pandemic-related government shutdown orders did not cause “direct physical loss of or damage to property,” as required by the policy.

In a Sept. 12 order, Judge Loretta C. Biggs of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina further found the policy’s virus exclusion bars coverage because the college’s economic losses were caused by a virus.

In March 2020, Guilford, a private, non-profit college in Greensboro, N.C., transitioned from in-person classes to remote instruction and closed its campus in compliance …