Salon’s COVID-19 Business Losses Fall Within Virus Exclusion, Calif. Federal Judge Rules

SAN FRANCISCO — Sentinel Insurance Ltd. has no obligation to pay for a waxing salon’s COVID-19-related business interruption losses because they fall within the policy’s virus exclusion, which bars coverage caused indirectly or directly from a virus, a California federal magistrate judge has ruled.

In a Dec. 14 order, Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California noted Franklin EWC Inc. alleges that COVID-19 is a virus, and that the virus was physically present at its salon, bringing its losses squarely within the exclusion’s ambit.

Franklin EWC Inc., which owns a …