Roy Johnson, DDS, owner of Smyrna, Ga.-based Windy Hill Dentistry, filed the suit against Connecticut-based Hartford Financial Services Group and eight of its insurance subsidiaries.
Windy Hill Dentistry lost business because operations were suspended during the pandemic, the suit said. However, Hartford is denying the practice’s lost business claims, saying COVID-19 is not a covered loss.
The lawsuit is seeking class-action status on behalf of businesses, including dental practices, that purchased Hartford insurance with income coverage and had to suspend or cancel elective procedures during the pandemic.
“The insurance company is saying that a business interruption has to be accompanied by a physical loss — like from a fire,” said Roy Barnes, former Georgia governor and attorney representing Dr. Johnson. “But there has been a physical loss here.”
“He had damage to his business because he had to shut it down,” Mr. Barnes said.
“Now more than ever, insured practices who have paid insurance premiums for specifically designed policies to cover interruptions are entitled to the coverage for which they paid,” the suit claims.
A spokesperson for Hartford said May 9 the company is not commenting on the lawsuit. According to the company’s website, its income coverage is “generally designed to cover losses that result from direct physical loss or damage to property caused by hurricanes, fires, wind damage or theft and is not designed to apply in the case of a virus.”
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