Insurer on Defense in COVID-19 Claim Battle with Houston Rockets
DiCello Levitt leads the charge toward insurer liability for COVID losses.
DiCello Levitt filed one of the first business interruption claims on behalf of a professional sports team for pandemic-related losses in July 2020.
COVID-19 delivered a serious and unanticipated blow to many entertainment-based businesses. The Toyota Center, home of the Houston Rockets, was one of them. The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic drastically changed the landscape of everyday life, abruptly altered the NBA’s 2019-2020 season, and left the Toyota Center a ghost town.
Rocket Ball Ltd. (the Houston Rockets’ owner) and Clutch City Sports & Entertainment (the Toyota Center’s owner) futilely filed claims with Affiliated FM under their business interruption insurance policy that were denied without any meaningful investigation. Affiliated FM enacted a blanket policy of denying all claims for pandemic-related business losses, leaving Rocket Ball and Clutch City Sports unable to claim benefits from their $400 million insurance policy—a policy for which Rocket Ball and Clutch City paid more than $700,000 in annual premiums to Affiliated FM for coverage in precisely this type of situation.
DiCello Levitt, together with its co-counsel, including the Lanier Law Firm, Burns Bowen Bair, Daniels & Tredennick, and Denman Heard represent Rocket Ball Ltd. and Clutch City Sports in the ongoing litigation.
DiCello Levitt and co-counsel represent several other professional sports teams as well, including the Atlanta Falcons, Buffalo Bills, and Miami Dolphins on an ongoing basis for COVID-19 pandemic losses.