In Sanzo Enterprises LLC v. Erie Insurance Exchange, 2021-Ohio 4268, the 5th Appellate District of the Ohio Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s dismissal, agreeing with the 6th Circuit’s Erie guess in Santo’s. The Ohio intermediate appellate court stated that “the plain and ordinary meaning of the phrase ‘direct physical loss of or damage to’ unambiguously requires a tangible and structural damage to the property,” and concluded that the deprivation of certain uses of the property did not qualify. The court also ruled that the civil authority coverage did not apply because “appellant has not alleged the Orders were issued in response to dangerous structural, material, or tangible conditions; rather, the Orders were designed to prevent spread of
the virus.”
