Disney Sued by Insurance Company Over COVID-Related Costs

The Walt Disney Company is being sued by its insurer, who says it mustn’t need to pay out sure claims associated to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the lawsuit, Fireman’s Fund Insurance says it doesn’t dispute the claims associated to the early months of the pandemic, often called “first wave claims,” are lined underneath “Civil Authority Coverage. But the two sides cannot agree on what Fireman’s calls “second wave claims” and “holiday hiatus” claims.

Fireman’s explains “second wave claims” as follows: “An example of a typical Second Wave Claim would be a non-essential crew member testing positive for COVID-19. Production would be able to continue without this person but for the fact that he or she has had face-to-face contact with the director. Having been exposed, the director is required to quarantine for 14 days, causing production to shut down, even if he or she never tests positive or becomes ill.”

In the go well with, Fireman’s says that Disney believes a declare of this kind is roofed underneath its coverage; Fireman’s disagrees. According to the go well with, Disney has claimed the quantity at dispute for these sorts of claims is at $10 million.

As for the “holiday hiatus claims,” Fireman’s argues that whereas it’s “customary” for productions to close down for 2 weeks earlier than the vacations, Disney shut down for an extra 1-2 weeks as a result of “public health authorities in Los Angeles, Atlanta and London expressed ‘elevated concern’ during the 2020-2021 holidays about then-spiking COVID-19 levels.”

The prolonged shutdown was not ordered, it was “urged,” and thus Fireman’s believes it mustn’t need to pay out for the additional downtime.

Fireman’s is asking a choose to rule of their favor on the claims it doesn’t really feel it has to pay out.

A rep for Disney didn’t instantly reply to TheWrap’s request for remark.

Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.