baylor college of medicine email houston

Most of these cases get transferred to federal courts, which have largely dismissed the claims on the grounds that the virus can’t cause property damage.

Baylor’s case was the first of its kind, to Fogler’s knowledge, that made it to a jury trial.

“The jury certainly believed that the presence of the virus did cause the property to be less functional, less usable, less valuable.”Ĭompanies have filed thousands of claims related to the pandemic under property insurance policies that provide business interruption coverage, but few have succeeded, said Murray Fogler, a trial attorney for Baylor College of Medicine. “We were able to do that because the common understanding of what loss or damage means includes more than some structural change to the property - it's anything that impairs the ability to use the property or impairs the value of the property,” Corrigan said. The lawyers for the underwriters did not respond to requests for comment.īaylor’s lawyers made the case to the jury that the physical presence of the virus on Baylor's property caused the loss of income and the extra expenses incurred during the pandemic, said Robert Corrigan Jr., senior vice president and general counsel at Baylor College of Medicine. The underwriters argued that the virus can’t cause property damage because it can be wiped off with disinfectant and doesn’t cause any tangible or structural change. On : As COVID drags on, a never-ending cycle of burnout is worsening the health care worker shortage The medical school then sued underwriters at Lloyd’s Syndicate, a property insurance marketplace headquartered in London that insures large or unusual risks.

Baylor filed an insurance claim in April 2020 to recover its losses, but was denied.

Baylor college of medicine email houston