Keeping Business Owners Informed of Their Rights
For more than thirty years, our founder Rob Ammons has been fearlessly representing business owners and consumers against insurance companies – and in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, Attorney Ammons and our other insurance lawyers have been fighting hard on behalf of business owners whose legitimate claims were denied. Because of his knowledge on the subject, Attorney Ammons also recently published an article on business loss insurance and COVID-19 for the May + June 2020 issue of Memorial Villages magazine, a publication of Keller Williams Realty.
The article, titled “Understanding Business Loss Insurance: What business owners should consider when they are told their losses are not covered,” details how policy language can make all the difference in determining COVID-19 loss coverage. According to Attorney Ammons, there are three main features that every business owner should look for in their commercial property insurance policy: business interruption coverage, civil authority coverage, and microorganism coverage (or exclusion.)
Business interruption coverage is often bundled with commercial insurance policies, and typically, this kind of coverage is limited to set types of property damage or “covered perils.” Although there are no current court rulings about whether COVID-19 counts as property loss or damage, Attorney Ammons notes that Harris County Judge Hidalgo’s recent order gives some room for a positive interpretation. He also writes that other terms – such as civil authority coverage, which covers owners against government-mandated shutdowns – can account for COVID-19 losses even when business interruption coverage does not apply, or when there is an exclusion for microorganisms like viruses.
We Can Help Owners Affected by COVID-19
At The Ammons Law Firm, our dedicated attorneys are committed to helping business owners get through the worst of the coronavirus pandemic and continue to keep their businesses alive. As part of our extensive law practice, we are currently offering free, no-obligation policy reviews for business owners who have been affected by economic and physical losses during the COVID-19 crisis. If you have any questions about your commercial insurance policy and your rights to coverage, we invite you to contact our Houston team today.
Give us a call at 855-955-0977 to get started with a free consultation and policy review.