The Dangers Around The Pandemic Of Litigation

As we optimistically look forward to at least the beginning of the end of the COVID-19 virus, our industry should start to prepare for the “pandemic of litigation” that will undoubtedly follow.

Our property and business interruption policies will be under attack, and so will our policyholders and their liability policies.

One of the by-products of working from home over the last several weeks is the fact that there has been time to read the multitude of articles and interviews in the insurance press and other media, dealing with potential insurance coverage disputes and potential liability exposures arising from COVID-19.

While such materials are useful in terms of generating discussion, I am becoming increasingly concerned that they may also be fueling arguments that could come back to bite us in the future.

Analyzing policy language is always a useful academic exercise. But when that analysis migrates to discussion of how the language could be challenged or interpreted against insurers, the unintended consequences could be quite detrimental.