Indiana Theatre Loses Bid for COVID-19 Business Interruption Coverage

INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana federal judge has dismissed a COVID-19 coverage action filed by the state’s largest professional nonprofit theatre, ruling that it did not sustain “direct physical loss or damage” to its property, as required by the policy issued by Cincinnati Insurance Co.

On March 12, Judge Heather Welch of the Marion County (Ind.) Superior Court held that Indiana Repertory Theatre Inc. failed to present evidence that its theatre was rendered uninhabitable or useless by government stay-at-home orders issued in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

IRT presents live performances September through May and rents its facilities for other …