Business interruption insurance might operate to help a business owner replace lost revenue and business expenses after a disastrous event. For thousands of businesses in and around Spokane, the COVID-19 pandemic qualifies as such an event. If the COVID-19 pandemic has paralyzed or temporarily shut down your business, you might be eligible for compensation pursuant to a business interruption insurance claim.
The knee-jerk reaction of just about all insurance companies is to deny COVID-19 business interruption claims on the basis of a lack of coverage for such a peril. Don’t believe everything that your insurance company tells you though. It’s in business to make money, and part of the insurance business involves the denial of claims in order to avoid paying them.
What’s Covered by Business Interruption Insurance?
Your business interruption insurance policy will identify the perils that it covers. If you’ve been forced to temporarily close your business due to a covered peril, your losses can be minimized up to the limit of the coverage that you carry.
Bad Faith Claims Against Insurance Companies
There are times when an insurance company might tell its insured person that a peril isn’t covered when it really is. An insurer might also tell its policyholder that it will cover a loss, but the value that it places on that loss is nowhere near the amount that the policyholder believes that it’s worth. As per RCW 48.01.030, all parties involved in an insurance matter must act in good faith and refrain from deception. RCW 48.01.015 provides that “Any party claimant to a policy of insurance who is unreasonably denied a claim for coverage of payment of benefits by an insurer may bring an action in the superior court of this state to recover the actual damages sustained, together with the cost of the action, including reasonable attorneys’ fees and litigation costs …”
Spokane bad faith business interruption insurance lawyer
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses in and around Spokane have suffered severe losses and filed business interruption insurance claims. Many of them have been denied, but some of those denials could be illegal under Washington State law. The fact that your insurance company has denied your business interruption claim based on the COVID-19 pandemic doesn’t necessarily mean that your right to be compensated under your insurance policy has been terminated. Rather than sleeping on rights that you might unknowingly have, contact our offices to speak with a Spokane bad faith business interruption insurance lawyer. We can talk about your policy, its exclusions, the viability of your claim and all of your legal options.
