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Contingent Business Interruption Coverage

By William P. Shelley, Lawrence Bowman, Kendall Hayden and Samantha Evans
July 29, 2009

Contingent business interruption (“CBI”) insurance provides coverage to an insured when a supplier or a key customer suffers a direct physical loss that interrupts the insured's own business (e.g., revenue stream). Bruce R. Kaliner, The Expanding Role of Contingent Business Interruption Insurance, ' 17 MEALEY'S BUSINESS INTERRUPTION INS. (Volume 3, 1st Ed. 2003). Just as property insurance generally restores damaged real or personal property, business interruption (“BI”) insurance is intended to restore profits lost as a result of an insured casualty event, placing the insured in the same financial situation as if the loss had not happened. BI insurance protects against the loss of prospective earnings because of the interruption of the insured's business caused by an insured peril to the insured's own property. Jess B. Millikan, Practice Tips: Time Element Losses During Catastrophes, 31 The Brief 52 (ABA Spring 2002). In contrast, CBI insurance protects against the loss of prospective earnings because of the interruption of the insured's business caused by an insured peril to property that the insured does not own, operate, or control. CII Carbon, L.L.C. v. National Union Fire Insurance Company of Louisiana, Inc., 918 So.2d 1060, 1061 n.1 (La. Ct. App. 2005).

CBI insurance is becoming a more prevalent component of property coverage as a result of converging economic and world events. Risk managers are increasingly becoming sensitive to the fact that world events such as terrorism or riots, regional incidents such as power blackouts or hurricanes, or local occurrences such as strikes, fires, floods, or explosions can have far-reaching effects on their company even if supply chain risk solutions, crisis management, or business contingency plans are in place.

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