See the full video at https://rumble.com/v1xv3cm-covid-ruined-ski-trip.html and at https://youtu.be/7bpnwLLeb6s
Plaintiffs lost the days they planned to ski at Vail in 2020. They are members of a certified class who purchased lift pass insurance from Defendant United Specialty Insurance Company (“USIC”) for their 2019/2020 season lift passes to Vail Resorts. Vail Resorts closed all of its resorts on March 15, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and did not reopen for the remainder of the season.
In: United Specialty Insurance Company Ski Pass Insurance Litigation, Ann C. Hoak; et al. v. United Specialty Insurance Company and American Claims Management; Beecher Carlson Insurance, LLC, No. 21-16986, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit (November 22, 2022)
Plaintiffs sought to recover for their lost ski days, relying on “quarantine” in their policy, but USIC denied their claims. The district court dismissed the complaint without leave to amend, finding that the plaintiffs’ allegations did not support that they had been quarantined under the policy.
The Ninth Circuit, finding it found a better reason to rule in favor of USIC, reviewed the policy’s “effective date of coverage” provision. Plaintiff’s insurance coverage ended on March 15, 2020, the “effective date of coverage” provision clarified that coverage ended “on the day ski operations cease due to an unforeseen event” if that date is earlier than the scheduled end of the season on April 15, 2020.
Since ski operations ceased for the 2019-2020 season on March 15 when Vail Resorts closed all of its resorts and never reopened for that season. Business ceased due to the spread of COVID-19, which was clearly an “unforeseen event” within the “ordinary and popular meaning” of the term. Thus, the “effective date of coverage” provision makes clear that the plaintiff cannot recover for any losses on or after March 15, 2020. Because the loss—the inability to ski at Vail—occurred after March 15, 2020, no loss occurred for the purposes of the policy.
Contrary to plaintiffs’ assertions, the separate “termination” provision, which automatically terminates coverage on the last day of the season, does not indicate that coverage could not be terminated earlier under the “coverage effective date” provision.
The plaintiffs argued that the policy’s “natural disaster” provision was invalidated; it would allow coverage in cases where all resorts in a state closed indefinitely due to a natural disaster but reopened a month later and thus did not completely cease ski operations for the season, which was not what eliminated the plaintiff’s desire to ski.
The district court’s decision was upheld.
The Ninth Circuit, unlike the plaintiffs, the plaintiffs’ attorneys, and the district court, read the entire policy and found that it did not matter whether the plaintiffs were quarantined because their loss occurred after the policy, by its terms, had expired.
(c) 2022 Barry Zalma & ClaimSchool, Inc.
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Barry Zalma, Esq., CFE, now limits his practice to serving as an insurance consultant specializing in insurance coverage, insurance claims management, insurance bad faith and insurance fraud almost equally for insurers and policyholders. He practiced law in California for more than 44 years as an insurance coverage and claims attorney and more than 54 years in the insurance industry. He can be reached at http://www.zalma.com and zalma@zalma.com
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