Income Loss Insurance Coverage for Business in the Frozen Zone

This article originally appeared in Anderson Kill's Policyholder Alet (July 24, 2007).

On July 18, 2007, an old steam pipe ruptured under Lexington Avenue in Manhattan, causing a massive explosion that resulted in the loss of life and numerous injuries. The blast also created a huge crater in the middle of the avenue and caused damage to nearby buildings. The Bloomberg Administration reacted to this event by creating a “frozen zone” in an area of several square blocks around the site of the blast that has been closed to pedestrian and vehicular traffic. Businesses in the frozen zone have effectively been shut down, and as a result are losing revenue, incurring extra expense, or both. Some of those businesses have insurance coverage for their losses under provisions that are not well known, but that are found in many standard form property policies.