Courtesy of Peter Schmeck
HYANNIS – Local small business advocates are pushing for legislators to require insurance companies to honor business interruption insurance claims filed in response to the loss of revenue incurred during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“Over the past year, many small businesses have faced closures mostly related to state guidelines ordering them closed. The state has been under a state of emergency for over a year now, and it’s impacted many small businesses,” said CEO of Love Live Local Amanda Converse.
She said that many businesses that have filed claims for business interruption policies have been denied by insurers.
“Across the country, claims like these have been denied by insurers saying that, basically, pandemics aren’t covered.”
Many insurance companies introduced such virus-exclusion policies after the SARS outbreak in the mid 2000s, which would not be considered legitimate under proposed legislation, said Converse.
In addition, she said that there are policies that do include civil authority-enforced closures and interruptions.
Civil authority related interruptions would include closures and restrictions enacted by Governor Charlie Baker early in the pandemic to curb the spread of the coronavirus, she said.
The new legislation clarifies that the continued business interruptions are caused by civil authority, and if the insurance policy has a civil authority clause in it, then the claims should be honored.
“There are restaurants on the Cape that have paid for decades for this kind of coverage and they’ve never made a claim until now when they’ve needed it the most and insurance companies are saying no,” said Converse.
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