Virus Exclusion Defeats Va. Barbershop’s Battle for COVID-19 Coverage

RICHMOND, Va. — A Virginia federal judge has dismissed a barbershop’s COVID-19 coverage action against Twin City Fire Insurance Co., ruling its losses fall within the policy’s exclusion for “loss or damage caused directly or indirectly by presence, growth, proliferation, spread or any activity of virus.”

In an Oct. 18 order, Senior Judge Robert E. Payne of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia rejected Adorn Barber & Beauty LLC’s argument that denying coverage would be contrary to the parties’ reasonable expectations.

“The starting point for that theory is the assertion that Adorn ‘specifically sought coverage for …