[PRIMER] Local Businesses Say Their Insurance Company Stiffed Them on COVID
Everything you need to know for Oct. 1, 2020: Absentee ballots + phase 3 + the canary in the theme parks.
Welcome, friends, to the maiden voyage of the new USS PRIMER. It means so much that you’re reading this and [ahem] sharing it on Facebook and sending it to all your friends and telling everyone how amazing it is. Honestly, y’all are the best. Go grab some coffee while I smash a champagne bottle across the bow, and let’s get going.
(One quick non-PRIMER request: If any of you have had to fight with an insurance company to get a drug you needed and you’re willing to talk with me about it, please email me. I promise I’m not working for a law firm.)
Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020
33 days until the election
9 days until the voter registration deadline (click here to see if you’re registered)
15 days until early voting begins (you can register then, too)
27 days until the deadline for absentee ballot requests
Image of the Day: The Morning After
(Captured Sept. 30, 8:54 a.m.)
ABOVE THE FOLD
—> Should Insurance Pay for Pandemics?
If you purchased business interruption insurance, and your business was then interrupted for six months on account of a global pandemic, you’d probably think your policy covered that sort of thing. But here, like everywhere, insurers denied pandemic-related claims. The state Department of Insurance agreed.
Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey: “I don’t have the legal authority to force an insurance company to pay something that’s not covered in a policy. … [Forcing insurers to pay] would totally bankrupt most of the insurance companies.”
Last week, a group of Durham businesses—Dashi, Ponysaurus, NanaSteak, and The Cookery—filed a federal lawsuit against the Cincinnati Insurance Company, Morris Insurance Agency, and the Insurance Center of Durham Inc., asking the court to force the insurers to pay for lost income. Among the allegations made in the lawsuit, which was first reported by the Triangle Business Journal:
“Based upon the representations of Cincinnati Insurance and its agents, as well as the language of the policies they purchased, Plaintiffs reasonably expected that Cincinnati Insurance would fulfill its contractual obligations and help Plaintiffs cover fixed expenses and employee payroll during a period when Plaintiffs’ businesses were unable to operate by government mandate.”
“After years of paying thousands of dollars of insurance premiums to Cincinnati Insurance, these restaurants turned to Cincinnati Insurance to protect their viability and continue to pay their employees, who cannot work through no fault of their own.”
The restaurants reported staggering losses this spring. In April and May, NanaSteak lost about $250,000 a month. The Cookery lost $359,000 in May. Ponysaurus lost more than $100,000 a month in April and May. Dashi lost $157,000 in April and $132,000 in May.
“Without the insurance funds to which they are entitled, Plaintiffs will be unable to cover expenses and may be forced to close their doors permanently.”
The policies, which are included in the lawsuit, guarantee coverage for “direct ‘loss’ of Covered Property at ‘premises’ caused by or resulting from any Covered Cause of Loss. The plaintiffs also paid for additional coverage for “business closures by order of Civil Authority.” But read the language closely and notice the words “dangerous physical conditions.”
That’s what the insurance companies leaned on in their response.
“On Friday, Cincinnati Insurance Company filed a motion to dismiss the case entirely, arguing that the policies in question [weren’t] made to cover a pandemic. … Its policies apply ‘only to income losses tied to physical damage to property, not economic losses caused by protecting the public from disease,’ the company says in the motion.”
The court has yet to rule.
LOCAL & STATE
—> Phase 3, Here We Come
As expected, Governor Cooper announced yesterday that he would move the state into phase 3 of reopening on Friday, when whatever the hell phase 2.5 was expires.
What this means: Bars can reopen. Entertainment spaces can reopen. Movie theaters can reopen at 30 percent capacity. Amusement parks can reopen, too, but no indoor rides. Stadiums with at least 10,000 seats can open at 7 percent capacity.
What will happen: Republicans will say it’s too little, too late.
Where we’re at: As of noon Wednesday, per DHHS.
For some bars that have been closed since March, there may be no coming back.
“Some bars won’t be able to reopen even if the restrictions are lifted soon, said Zack Medford, president of the N.C. Bar and Tavern Association who owns several bars. ‘A lot of people have given up,’ Medford said. ‘They’ve already lost everything they’ve got, so even if they are allowed to reopen it might be too late.’”
—> The Absentee Ballot Fight Begins
As of Tuesday, Mecklenburg County had received more than 35,000 completed mail-in ballots. Wake had received nearly 34,000, more than the total number of absentee ballots cast in 2016. Elections boards are just now beginning to go through them. Meanwhile, Republicans from President Trump to Thom Tillis on down are casting aspersions on mail-in voting, alleging without evidence that the ballots will be fertile terrain for fraud.
In North Carolina, this has taken an ugly turn.
In August, a court ruled that the state must give voters a chance to fix deficient ballots.
A few weeks later, the State Board of Elections sent local boards rules instructing them on how to do just that.
In September, the SBE unanimously approved a settlement with a voting rights group to make it easier for voters to fix absentee ballots and extend the time ballots postmarked on Election Day can be counted.
After some lame political theater, Republicans sued. When the SBE sent an email telling the local boards to follow the rules anyway, a party spokesman called it “brazen lawlessness.”
On Wednesday evening, U.S. District Court Judge William Osteen issued a ruling that seemed to agree: “Notwithstanding the fact this court upheld the one-witness requirement and limited the due process remedy to those defects which were subject to remediation, it now appears that on September 22, 2020, the North Carolina State Board of Elections has eliminated the one-witness requirement under the guise of compliance with this court’s order.
If you want to know why Republicans are so determined to make it harder for absentee ballots to be counted, understand that it’s not really about fraud. It’s about this:
Of the more than 9 million voters who requested mail ballots through Monday in Florida, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Maine and Iowa, the five battleground states where such data is publicly available, 52 percent were Democrats. Twenty-eight percent were Republicans, and 20 percent were unaffiliated.
Additional internal Democratic and Republican Party data obtained by The Washington Post shows a similar trend in Ohio, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Wisconsin.
Even more alarming to some Republicans, Democrats are also returning their ballots at higher rates than GOP voters in two of those states where that information is available: Florida and North Carolina.
This seems important, too:
In North Carolina and Georgia, for instance, 1 in 5 voters who have cast ballots didn’t even vote in 2016, McDonald said. Requests for mail ballot are up astronomically in dozens of states; the figure is 350 percent in Michigan, for instance, when compared with 2016.
One warning:
In North Carolina, for instance, about 5,800 out of roughly 281,000 submitted ballots have been set aside, the vast majority because of a witness signature deficiency, according to state data. Voters still have an opportunity to remedy their errors.
Deep Dive
The New York Times Magazine goes long on how Trump’s false claims of voter fraud are being used t disenfranchise Americans.
—> Raleigh and Durham Consider Halloween Curfew
For obvious reasons, state health officials are advising people to rethink their traditional approach to Halloween this year: no trick-or-treating, no crowded costume parties, no trunk-or-treat-type things, no alcohol or drug. (Sure thing, guys, if you say so. 😊 😊 😊 )
Anyway, local officials are trying to figure out what they’re going to do. A curfew is on the table.
Mayor MAB: “I think the good news was they didn’t come back and say ‘No Halloween.’… It’s too early to tell [about a curfew in Raleigh]. Obviously, that is an option and will be considered.”
Mayor Schewel: “We want people to be able to celebrate Halloween, for sure. Halloween is a wonderful holiday. But we also want it to be done safely.”
—> Weather
Mostly clear, high of 77, low of 55.
—> Video Du Jour
From the Department of Ouch: Here is Wake County School Board District 2 candidate Greg Hahn admitting that he has no earthly clue what the Leandro decision is. (H/t Kristopher Nordstrom.)
The Leandro decision, of course, refers to Leandro vs. State of North Carolina, the 1997 case in which the state Supreme Court ruled that every child has a constitutional right to a “sound basic education in our public schools.”
(If you didn’t know that, don’t feel bad; just don’t run for school board.)
NATION & WORLD
—> The Lede: Did the Debate Change Anything?
The three things that came through in the next-day coverage of Tuesday’s gross debate were:
Donald Trump did not denounce white supremacists.
Donald Trump encouraged voter intimidation.
Donald Trump is a petulant jackass.
These perceptions were reinforced by focus groups, by quick-hit polls, by the positive reactions of neo-Nazis, by the Republicans’ attack-the-moderator approach the next day, even by the Commission on Presidential Debates promising changes.
When you boil it down, Donald Trump’s real problem was this: He’s down seven points with 33 days left. Every day he’s not making up ground, he’s losing. And the more he loses, the greater the danger to Thom Tillis, Joni Ernst, and Susan Collins, not to mention the probably-already-toast Martha McSally in Arizona.
I wouldn’t want to be a swing-state Republican senator trying to defend this.
—> Barrett Is Moving Quickly
On the one hand, it’s no surprise that Senate Republicans are moving Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination at warp speed. On the other, it’s hardly a testament to their faith that the election is going well.
“Senate Republicans say they can get Amy Coney Barrett on the Supreme Court by Election Day, no problem. But to do so will require essentially a perfect confirmation process featuring almost no errors from Barrett and no slip-ups in the Senate.”
“Though Supreme Court vacancies have been filled more quickly, Barrett’s would be both rapid by historical standards and the closest ever to a presidential election. Add to that a president that’s on the ropes in his reelection campaign and a close race for Senate control and it’s easy to see why the White House and Senate GOP are taking every precaution necessary.”
The goal right now is to get Barrett a committee vote on Oct. 22 and a floor vote a few days later—in other words, about a week before the election.
—> The Canary in the Theme Park
Earlier this week, Disney announced that it would lay off 28,000—thousand—people, primarily from its theme parks in California and Florida, after keeping them on furlough for six months. Disneyland in California has remained closed by executive order; Disney World in Florida has been allowed to open by its governor, who has decided that COVID no longer matters, but people didn’t bother showing up.
The unemployment rate has been falling faster than most people expected. But the recovery from the Great Lockdown has been the most unequal in modern U.S. history.
The economic collapse sparked by the pandemic is triggering the most unequal recession in modern U.S. history, delivering a mild setback for those at or near the top and a depression-like blow for those at the bottom, according to a Washington Post analysis of job losses across the income spectrum. …
While the nation overall has regained nearly half of the lost jobs, several key demographic groups have recovered more slowly, including mothers of school-age children, Black men, Black women, Hispanic men, Asian Americans, younger Americans (ages 25 to 34) and people without college degrees.
That leads Joe Weisenthal of Bloomberg to raise an interesting point:
—> Polling Update
Here’s what came in yesterday:
Iowa: Biden 48–46 (RABA Research)
Kansas: Trump 52–42 (Civiqs)
Kansas Senate: Marshall (R) 50–43 (Civiqs)
South Carolina: Trump 48–47 (!) (Quinnipiac)
S.C. Senate: Harrison (D) 48–48 (Quinnipiac)
New Hampshire: Biden 53–44 (UNH)
New Hampshire: Biden 56–42 (Rasmussen)
National: Biden 51–43 (Rasmussen)
Michigan: Biden 49–47 (Trafalgar)
National: Biden 50–42 (YouGov)
National: Biden 51–42 (Ipsos)
Georgia: Biden 50–47 (Civiqs)
—> The Roundup
Some quick hits to send you on your way:
The New York Times will rereport a Pulitzer-nominated podcast on the Islamic State after its main character was charged with concocting a hoax.
Chronic stress makes you more susceptible to COVID 19.
Seattle has set a minimum wage for rideshare drivers.
The first person cured of AIDS has died of leukemia.
Durham’s own David Graham writes in The Atlantic that we should cancel the last two debates. (He’s wrong.)
Kyle Rittenhouse’s lawyer apparently plans to sue Joe Biden for defamation, which might not be the best idea.
That’s all for today. Thanks for reading. Questions? Suggestions? Email me.