A North Carolina appellate court on Tuesday upheld a lower court decision in favor of an insurer in a Covid-19-related business breakup lawsuit filed by the owner of a vacation home.
Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina-based Four Roses LLC had filed a lawsuit against its insurer, Lake Mary, Florida-based First Protective Insurance Co., claiming it was eligible for business interruption protection because of the financial losses it incurred. as a result of the county banning the entry of non-residents into its jurisdiction due to the pandemic, according to the ruling of a three-judge panel at the Raleigh-based Court of Appeal in Four Roses LLC v. First Protective Insurance Co.
Although insurance provisions provide coverage for direct physical loss to the home, the plaintiff has not claimed any such loss “as required by the simple and unambiguous terms of the insurance,”
; the judgment confirms a decision by Manteo, North Carolina, court.According to the policy’s “normal conditions”, losses that trigger coverage are those that make the property “unsuitable for living in” or where the civil authority prohibits the use of the property as a result of direct damage to adjacent premises, the ruling says.
The complaint does not allege facts that cover the loss of the property’s real retail value or where a civilian authority prohibits its use, nor where the county’s roadblocks “made their property in itself unsuitable to live in.”
Lawyers in the case did not respond to a request for comment.
Earlier this month, the same court overturned a lower court decision in favor of policyholders in a case of covid-19 business interruption.
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