[sureLoss]

https://calgaryherald.com/news/local...box=1647883584

The Calgary Flames have launched a $125-million lawsuit against its insurers for losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a statement of claim filed in Calgary Court of Queen’s Bench, the team says the coronavirus fits squarely within the contemplated coverage it purchased from a group of six different insurers.

“Calgary Flames (limited partnership) bought — at significant expense — a best-in-class ‘all risks’ business interruption insurance policy from the defendants,” the claim states.

“The all risks policy broadly covered ‘all risks of direct physical loss or damage.’ The all risks policy promised to indemnify Calgary Flames LP against loss of revenue and certain other expenses if it could not use its arenas or other insured properties due to the impact of external physical peril,” it states.

“These covered perils include known and unknown risks, including noxious substances that render arenas unusable. COVID-19 and the COVID-19 virus were precisely among the perils and risks covered. In short, Calgary Flames LP purchased the all risks policy to cover the losses that it could suffer as a worldwide series of physical catastrophes like those brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The claim does not divulge what the team’s premiums on the policy were.

The named defendants are Westport Insurance Corp., Royal and Sun Alliance Insurance Company of Canada, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, Aviva Insurance Company of Canada, Northbridge General Insurance Corp., and Special Program Group Canada Inc., operating as Can-Sure Underwriting.

The claim goes on to state the virus “caused physical changes to the air, surfaces, and interior spaces of the Saddledome and other insured properties and rendered the Saddledome and other insured properties physically unusable for their intended purposes. COVID-19 and the COVID-19 virus resulted in government orders forbidding access to the Saddledome or other insured properties due to the damage caused by and the risks posed by (the coronavirus).”

The lawsuit claims the insurers specifically chose not to include a “broad virus or pandemic exclusion that other insurers specifically used to exclude coverage for all losses in any way related to virus or pandemics. Rather the insurers offered coverage with narrower and fundamentally different exclusions (called either a ‘contamination exclusion’ or ‘pollution exclusion’) that did not bar coverage for the types of COVID-19 losses suffered by Calgary Flames LP.”

It says the pandemic measures instituted by health authorities renders the Saddledome unusable for its proper purpose.