LawCall: Business Interruption Insurance

Attorney Will League discusses coronavirus related issues, inclucing business interruption insurance.

Pull some out.

We're going to have some email questions tonight.

Getting us started will league is here from siniard, timberlake & league.

You're already planning for this.

Your law office is doing things differently because of this.

>> will league: we are, we are social distancing.

We're open, trying to social distance and working on a split schedule so people can come in and get as much as we can without being in each other's personal space.

We're in different times.

This is unprecedented, haven't had anything like this in 102 years and employment potentially could -- unemployment could potentially rise to 20% and we're in unchartered territory.

I think we're going to talk about business interruption insurance.

>> sharon doviet: yeah, how many businesses carry something like that and is too late to get it?

>> will league: it's in a lot of policies.

Some are closing outright and some are on a very limited schedule.

They still have payroll.

They're losing revenue.

Still paying their employees.

So they need to look at the policy to determine whether or not you have business interruption insurance.

Most businesses have it.

The question is going to be, and where we think it's going to be -- you know, it will cover a lot of things if it applies.

Insurance carriers are going to argue you need a physical loss to your building or property to trigger that coverage.

Opinion and, you know, a lot of insurance companies ten or so years ago when the sars epidemic came out amended policies to exclude bacteria and viruses, but the physical damage to trigger that coverage has to come into play.

What we argue if there was a droplet or damage to your property that caused you to closed, if your business is unsafe to work in, and that -- we feel like that would trigger coverage.

Another thing to look at is if there's a government closure, that could trigger that insurance coverage, but even if there's a government order to close your business, there may still be an exclusion for a virus.

So most businesses out there, you know, mostly all businesses are experiencing some type of loss or otherwise.

Get your insurance policy and get with your agent and determine whether the loss or interruption will -- interruption of use or income will come into play, because it could save you.

Now, let's say that does not apply.

Hopefully it does, but most policies in the last ten years it's going to have that exclusion for viruses based on sars, most insurance carriers changed that.

Go if the exclusion is not there, then you may be able to recover under that type of insurance claim.

Sharon, if that fails you can look at sba.gov.

There are programs where they're lending the small businesses less than 500 employees up to $2 million with relatively low insurance rate, but still it's substantial.

There's a stimulus package for business owners out there that hopefully will come in if you continue to pay your employees, you'll get a tax credit next time around.

If you use that money to keep your employees, you know, on the job and not furlough them.

And then we'll talk about, you