Will Your Business Interruption Insurance Cover Your COVID-19 Losses?

As businesses continue to shut down across Louisiana and the nation in response to city and state “stay at home” orders, business owners are worried about whether this public health disaster is covered under their business interruption insurance protection plans.  If they listen to their insurance agents or the many media articles on the topic, they probably think they are out of luck.  However, business owners have nothing to lose by filing a claim to test the waters, and if that claim is denied they always have the option to file a lawsuit to enforce their insurance plan

Whether your claim is covered or not is likely dependent on the type of policy and the specific language in it. If you have a business that has been affected by closures, check your business policies to see what losses may be covered.  Even if your insurance policy contains a specific exclusion related to viruses or pandemics, there are several angles to possibly overcome the exclusions.

Continue reading “Business Interruption Insurance Claims for COVID-19”

While our building at Canal Place in New Orleans has closed to the public, it remains open to essential staff members of certain tenants including our office.  Thus, we remain open to serve your needs during these strange times of global pandemic.  Please do not attempt to come see us though.  Your safety and health is very important to us, as is the well being of our support team. 

Continue reading “We Remain Open to Business During this COVID-19 Public Health Crisis”

While many courts across the state and nation continue to close their doors and postpone trials and hearings to later dates, the three Bankruptcy Courts in Louisiana have thankfully remained functioning to some degree.  Bankruptcy filings remain electronic as always, but the requirement to submit original signatures in some instances is temporarily suspended.  Each of the courts are closed to the public but have implemented measures to conduct hearings via telephone and/or video during this time of public health crisis related to the novel coronavirus, COVID-19:

Continue reading “Bankruptcy Court Procedures in Response to COVID-19”

The Social Security Administration (SSA) announced last night that effective today, all field and hearing offices are closed to the public due to the ongoing public health crisis related to the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.  If you are already awarded benefits, this will not affect your ongoing payments.  If you have a hearing scheduled, however, you can expect a call soon to request that you either agree to moving forward via telephonic hearing or to continue the matter to a later date.  While SSA will remain open to conducting business online and on a limited basis via telephone, it is not yet clear at what capacity they will be processing information.  

Continue reading “Social Security Offices Close in Response to COVID-19”