Hunton Insurance Recovery Blog

The Minnesota Court of Appeals recently handed policyholders an important win in Life Time, Inc. v. Zurich American Insurance Co., reversing a trial court ruling that had capped coverage under a communicable disease endorsement at the $1 million per occurrence limit. Relying on the express language of the communicable disease coverage at issue, the appellate court held that government shutdown orders—not the COVID-19 pandemic itself—constituted the operative “occurrences” under Life Time’s policy. By interpreting the cause of loss in this way, the court expanded Life Time’s recovery from a single $1 million limit to 29 separate limits, one for each jurisdiction that independently ordered closure of Life Time’s business locations.

Kanye West’s touring company, Very Good Touring, Inc. (Very Good), and its insurer, Lloyd’s of London (Lloyd’s), have resolved their dispute over event cancellation coverage for West’s “Life of Pablo” Tour, which experienced canceled shows due to West’s health condition. The settlement resolved all claims and counterclaims.

In a prior blog post, we discussed Kanye West's touring company's, Very Good Touring, Inc. ("Very Good"), lawsuit against its insurer, Lloyd's of London ("Lloyd's"), for withholding almost $10 million in coverage after the cancellation of shows on West's "Life of Pablo" Tour. On Tuesday, August 29, 2017, Lloyd's responded by counterclaiming against Very Good and West, alleging that the loss was due to their failure to abide by policy conditions.

Hollywood is not off to a great start for the month of August. Kanye West's touring company, Very Good Touring, Inc. ("Very Good"), sued insurance company Lloyd's of London ("Lloyd's") on Tuesday in California federal court for withholding almost $10 million in coverage for the shows on West's "Life of Pablo" Tour that were canceled due to West's health condition. In Very Good Touring, Inc. v. Cathedral Syndicate, et al., No. 2:17-cv-05693 (C.D. Cal. filed Aug. 1, 2017), the touring company characterized Lloyd's delay in providing a coverage opinion as "emblematic of a broader modus operandi of the insurers of never-ending post-claim underwriting where the insurers hunt for some contrived excuse not to pay."