Children’s Clothing Store Chain Loses Battle for COVID-19 Coverage

NEWARK, N.J. — A children’s clothing chain is not entitled to coverage from Zurich American Insurance Co. for losses it sustained during the COVID-19 pandemic because it did not sustain “direct physical loss of or damage to” its insured property, a New Jersey federal judge has ruled.

In a Sept. 17 order, Judge Esther Salas of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey found The Children’s Place (TCP) did not allege any tangible loss or physical damage to its stores across the United States, Canada, or Puerto Rico.

“Notwithstanding TCP’s assertion that COVID-19 forced ‘physical changes to …