On April 3, 2020, Pennsylvania introduced House Bill 2372 which is an “act providing for insurance coverage for business interruption.”
The bill is similar to legislative measures previously taken in New Jersey, Ohio, New York, Massachusetts, and Louisiana.
The Pennsylvania bill would require an insurance company to cover and indemnify insureds who suffer business interruption losses due to COVID-19. The bill has bipartisan support and was referred to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Insurance Committee for consideration.
The bill, in its current form, has some limitations. It only applies to policyholders with fewer than 100 eligible employees in Pennsylvania. The coverage also had to be in place on March 6, 2020.
To date, none of the similar bills proposed in New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Massachusetts, or Louisiana have been enacted into law. Similar efforts at the federal level have also been strongly resisted by the insurance companies.
We continue to track the progress of each of these bills. Please reach out to your Metz Lewis contact or Josh Baker (jbaker@metzlewis.com or 412-918-1149) if you have any questions or wish to discuss the implications on your business.
This post was written by Josh Baker
