Business Interruption Coverage
This is a weird time, leaving many businesses scrambling to survive. It’s time to dig out that commercial insurance policy that you’ve been paying premiums on for years.
Hopefully you have a decent insurance agent that knows how to protect your business, especially since we live in the land of tornados and bad storms, even droughts that lead to fires. In other words, hopefully you purchased “business interruption coverage” or “business income coverage” or the like. This means that if your business is “interrupted,” then you have insurance coverage to cover your losses until you can open your doors again.
Some business interruption coverage policies will have exclusions, which limit the types of “interruptions” it will cover. However, these exclusions must be specific. Courts should construe the exclusion narrowly against the insurance company. Generally, the law interprets insurance contracts broadly and in favor of providing coverage.
You might have also purchased “Civil Authority Coverage” that could apply while your business is shut down. This type of coverage could apply if government action prohibits access to your business.
So now you ask yourself “so what’s next?”
First, if you cannot find your policy (it’s usually a big document, typically few hundred pages), call your insurance agent and request your policy. You may have it stashed away in a filing cabinet or it was provided to you on a CD.
Second, call me. 405-365-7111. Let’s read the policy. There will be very important steps that must be taken to give the insurance company proper notice.
Third, take all steps reasonable to lessen the damage. This is hard when the government says, “stay home.”
Fourth, cooperate with the insurance company. If they want a statement, you must talk to them. This allows the insurance company to fully investigate. Do not give them an excuse to deny your claim for failure to cooperate.