The Court of Appeals of Ohio, Eighth Appellate District, County of Cuyahoga affirmed the dismissal of The Nail Nook v. Hiscox Insurance Company. The trial court had dismissed the case based on the presence of a virus exclusion in The Nail Nook’s policy. The Ohio Court of Appeals affirmed, holding “we agree with the trial court that, ‘[u]nder the policy’s clear and unambiguous virus exclusion, Nail Nook’s alleged losses are excluded from coverage.'” Notably, the court went further than necessary, concluding that The Nail Nook “could not prove, ‘direct physical loss of or damage to Covered Property.'” The court concluded by quoting the 6th’s Circuit’s recitation of the classic “responsibility to future claimants” claims story:
Efforts to push coverage beyond [the policy’s] terms creates a mismatch, an insurance product that covers something no one paid for and, worse, runs the risk of leaving insufficient funds to pay for perils that insured’s did pay for.
Santo’s Italian Cafe LLC, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS, at 22-23. See Tom Baker, Constructing the Insurance Relationship: Sales Stories, Claims Stories, and Insurance Contract Damages, 72 Tex. L. Rev. 1395, 1410 (1994).
