N.H. Judge Allows Hotel Owners’ COVID-19 Coverage Action to Proceed

CONCORD, N.H. — A New Hampshire judge has refused to dismiss a COVID-19 coverage action filed by a group of hotel owners, ruling that the policy phrases “loss or damage” and “direct physical loss of or damage to property” encompasses the kind of damage caused by the spread of the virus to the insured properties.

In a June 15 order, Judge John C. Kissinger Jr. of the Merrimack County (N.H.) Superior Court further ruled that because the policies cover an actual “loss” sustained “irrespective of whether the property of the insured shall have been damaged,” proof of physical damage is …