In Advanced Indicator & Manufacturing v. Acadia Insurance Company,[1] the Fifth Circuit resolved a thorny split in Texas federal district courts regarding Texas Insurance Code Chapter 542A by returning to a bedrock principle governing removal.  Now as long as the insurer has elected to accept the adjuster’s liability any time before removal – even when after suit is filed – there is no possibility of recovery against the adjuster and removal will be proper.

A recent New Jersey Appellate Division ruling follows the general trend nationally in which courts are, by and large, rejecting insureds’ claims for coverage for business income losses due to government orders related to preventing the spread of Covid-19.  While there have been certain outliers, like the Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal’s deeply divided plurality decision earlier this month in Cajun Conti LLC, et al. v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s, et al., the overwhelming majority of courts have ruled in favor of insurers.  Specifically, courts have consistently recognized that physical alteration or damage to covered property is a prerequisite for triggering business interruption coverage under a first-party insurance policy.    Further, courts have almost uniformly enforced virus exclusions.  In this recent decision, the New Jersey Appellate Division followed suit, thereby reinforcing the national trend.