Motion for Reconsideration Defeated in Monumental COVID Business Interruption Case

On October 25th, in a policyholder win, Judge Raymond Mitchell of Cook County denied Continental Casualty Company’s motion for reconsideration of an earlier August 12 ruling denying a motion to dismiss a business interruption lawsuit filed by JDS Construction Group.

The case, as we reported on in August, involves the important issue of whether the COVID-19 virus causes “physical loss or physical damage.” In the motion for reconsideration, Continental Casualty cited several decisions from New York and Illinois asserting that courts in both jurisdictions overwhelmingly found that the presence of the virus does not trigger coverage under a policy requiring “direct physical loss or damage to property.”