Florida is not known as a pro-insurer venue but today Goodman McGuffey won a Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings for its insurer client in a first party COVID business income and extra expense claim. Judge Mary Scriven held that “Plaintiff is barred from recovery because Plaintiff’s claim of loss was not caused by a “direct physical loss of” the Property.”
The Judge stated “[n]otably, the Policy does not define “direct physical loss.” However, under Florida law, a “direct physical loss” requires an actual diminution of value of the Property” and ““tangible damage to property for a ‘direct physical loss’ to exist.” The Court rejected consideration of cases from outside Florida finding that in “in every [Florida] case, coverage has been denied based on similar, or identical, language contained the insurance policies.” Perhaps Florida is becoming a more moderate venue.
