Business Interruption and Related Claims

When a catastrophic event impacts the assets and operations of a business, policy holders, insurers and associated legal counsel often turn to independent accountants to measure and evaluate business interruption losses. Weaver’s professionals have decades of experience assisting clients in navigating business disruptions and evaluating related claims.

After damage or loss of physical property, business interruption coverage reimburses actual losses sustained as a result of disruptions to business operations. The damage or loss of physical property must be the result of a covered event such as a hurricane, winter storm, or other weather-related or covered event. Coverage is governed by the terms and conditions of the specific insurance policy, which can vary greatly.

The proper analysis of business interruption and related claims requires more than just simple number crunching. Our team of seasoned professionals can measure and analyze the financial and economic impacts resulting from the disruption of operations for businesses across a wide range of industries. Weaver uniquely combines forensic accounting and valuation acumen to perform thorough and thoughtful analyses required to understand all of the relevant considerations in business interruption and related claims including:

• Property damage claims
• Time element claims
• Extra expense claims
• Valuation of lost inventory
• Lost production versus lost sales
• Lost versus delayed profits
• Market analysis
• Expense mitigation
• Insurer subrogation

Although business interruption coverage is generally designed to be triggered after loss or damage to the insured property, additional coverage may be triggered without direct property damage. Certain policies may include coverage for event cancellation or cyber-attacks. In addition, policies may include coverage for:

• Civil authority impacts. Civil authority clauses provide coverage for losses resulting from a governing authority prohibiting or impairing access to the insured business premises.
• Contingent business interruption coverage. This covers the policyholder’s lost business income caused by disruptions in operations of its customers or suppliers due to a covered loss.
• Stand-alone supply-chain coverage. This reimburses losses caused by disruption in the insured’s supply chain. It typically does not require property damage, provides broader coverage and has fewer exclusions than contingent business interruption coverage.

Our professionals have assisted, prepared and presented complex business interruption and related claims under the terms of applicable commercial insurance policies while streamlining the recovery process and ensuring that claims are comprehensive, logical, defensible, and well-documented.