Insurance Policies Must be Read Using the Common Meaning of the Words in the Policy Like “Physical Loss or Damage”

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Hillbro LLC d/b/a Hills Restaurant attempted a class action lawsuit against Oregon Mutual Insurance Company seeking a declaratory judgment that its insurance policy covers its business income losses stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. In Hillbro LLC, dba Hills Restaurant, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated v. Oregon Mutual Insurance Company, an Oregon corporation, No. 3:21-cv-00382-HZ, United States District Court, D. Oregon (September 7, 2021) dealt with another of the interminable business interruption claims made as a result of the Covid-19 Pandemic.

ZALMA OPINION

Business owners and their lawyers must be commended for their efforts to continue to find a way to get an insurance company to pay for losses caused to their clients by their state governments who shut them down, and continue to fail with great regularity. The parties ignore the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that, by the 14th Amendment applies to the states, and that prohibits any person to “be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.” The plaintiff was deprived of its ability to use its property that was taken for what is claimed as a public use – protect the public against the spread of the pandemic – without compensation. The losses are clearly not covered by insurance but are arguably covered by the Fifth Amendment.