Features

Arizona Appeals Court Joins Other States In Holding COVID-19 Shutdowns Not an Excuse for Missed Rent Payments
The court affirmed a lower court's decision granting the landlords' motion for summary judgment, after determining the applicable force majeure provisions and common law doctrines the tenants relied on didn't excuse payment obligations.
Features

COVID-19 and Lease Negotiations: Casualty Provisions
First in series of articles that will examine specific aspects of the COVID shift in which commercial lease negotiations are seeking protection against unlikely events. Part 1 focuses on casualty provisions.
Features

Insurer Loses Bid to Dismiss Cinemark's Case Over COVID-19
In a rare ruling, the Cinemark movie theater chain won the chance to keep litigating against its insurance company, seeking losses under a $500 million policy for business interruption from COVID-19.
Columns & Departments
Landlord & Tenant Law
Insurance Failure Precludes Exercise of Purchase Option
Features

Commercial Lease Requirements During the Pandemic
Can a commercial tenant that is required to be closed during the COVID-19 pandemic be relieved of, or does it have a defense to, the obligation to continue to pay rent? The short answer is possibly yes, but the situation is unprecedented and the answer may have to be determined in litigation.
Features

COVID-19: Cybersecurity and Insurance Coverage
When cyber attacks succeed, in-house counsel and risk management professionals will look for coverage under their cyber insurance policies. Insurance coverage for such incidents, however, are also present in other policies, and these other policies should not be cast aside.
Features

Force Majeure and the Doctrine of Impossibility
The COVID-19 pandemic is resulting in landlords and tenants closely reviewing a clause in their lease that was long considered unimportant boilerplate. Yes, we are referring to the "force majeure" provision.
Features

Flood and Terrorism Insurance Reauthorization: Safe for Now
Federal programs have made insurance more readily accessible to protect real property in the event of a flood or an act of terrorism. These programs enable flood and terrorism insurance to be widely available at realistic price points by ensuring that the amount of the premiums payable for such insurance remain at a level that a borrower can afford, which in turn preserves the underwritten economics of the loan transaction.
Features

D&O Policy 'Bankruptcy Exclusion' Held To Be an Unenforceable 'Ipso Facto' Clause
The new decision is significant because lawsuits against former (and current) officers and directors of debtors commonly are brought, as here, by trusts established under plans of reorganization. Because insurance policies often are the only viable source of recovery for the claims asserted in such lawsuits, this decision potentially opens a pathway to creditor recovery in other similar matters.
Features

A Primer on Insurance for Music Festivals
From a risk management perspective, festivals now run the gamut on potential liabilities that include collapsed stages, cancelled performances, severe weather, terrorism, alcohol liability, patron bodily harm and death, product liability and breach of contract claims. In essence, music festivals have become a microcosm of live entertainment-related liability exposures.
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