Pa. Small Businesses Ask 3rd Cir. to Consolidate COVID-19 Coverage Appeals

PHILADELPHIA — Several small businesses that lost their lower court battles for COVID-19 business interruption coverage have asked a federal appellate court to consolidate their appeals, arguing they “implicate the same novel and controlling issues of Pennsylvania law.”

In a Feb. 1 brief filed before the 3rd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, the appellants say their cases involve the proper interpretation of “physical loss” and “virus exclusions” in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated government closure orders, “including the viability of regulatory estoppel arguments for coverage in this setting.”

“Consolidation is appropriate so that one panel of this …