Hunton Insurance Recovery Blog

On August 25, 2020, an article by Syed Ahmad and Michael Huggins was run in Mealey’s Insurance concerning the use of direct and circumstantial evidence to show the presence of COVID-19 for purposes of seeking business interruption coverage.  A key takeaway from the article is that direct evidence of COVID-19 at a premises, such as through positive test results, may not be necessary to establish the presence of COVID-19.  Instead, insurers and courts should consider circumstantial evidence, with equal weight as may be given direct evidence, such as witness testimony that employees or patrons of the business tested positive for COVID-19 before or after being present at the premises, the number of cases of COVID-19 that have arisen in the area where the business is located, and the nature of the business’s operations, which may include frequent interaction with numerous visitors to the premises.