Jonathan Reich: Will Insurance Cover Damage from Charlotte Protests?

CHARLOTTE, N.C.—Earlier this month, the shooting death of Charlotte resident Keith Scott at the hands of police led to protests in the city’s uptown streets. While many of those protests were peaceful, others resulted in property damage and looting at a number of businesses.

So will insurance cover those losses? And will companies with business interruption coverage be compensated for lost revenue?

Womble Carlyle attorney Jonathan Reich recently addressed those questions with Insurance Business America. While actual property damage is likely to be covered under standard policies, the business interruption question is a bit trickier, Reich said.

“Even once the business interruption coverage is triggered, it will not be retroactive to the date of the event,” he said to Insurance Business America. “In other worlds, for damage caused on Wednesday night, business interruption coverage will not begin until Saturday night. As a result, some losses will not be recoverable under the standard policy.”

Click here to read the full article in Insurance Business America.

Jonathan Reich represents clients in all stages of litigation; including trial by jury and appeals. He represents clients in matters ranging from complex commercial and business litigation involving fraud and unfair business practices to defending products liability, wrongful death, and catastrophic personal injury cases. He was counsel of record in two recent cases which have been recognized among the most important insurance cases in North Carolina in 2014. He is a co-author of All Risks Covered, a blog covering business insurance issues.