Insurers’ COVID-19 Notepad: What You Need to Know Now - Week of July 25, 2022
Client Alert | 1 min read | 07.25.22
Court Dismisses COVID-19 Business Interruption Claim
On July 19, 2022, the Court of Appeals of North Carolina affirmed the dismissal of a property owner’s COVID-19 business interruption claim. The court concluded that the plaintiff’s complaint failed to state a claim for “direct physical loss” to its dwelling because it failed to allege any lost income due to damage or destruction of the property when it alleged only that roads accessing the property were closed due to the prohibition on entry into the county by non-resident visitors related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Opinion at 8-9. The court also found that there was no coverage for loss of use where there was no allegation that the county prohibited the plaintiff from using its property. Id. at 10-11. The case is Four Roses, LLC v. First Protective Ins. Co.
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Client Alert | 2 min read | 11.14.25
Claim construction is a key stage of most patent litigations, where the court must decide the meaning of any disputed terms in the patent claims. Generally, claim terms are given their plain and ordinary meaning except under two circumstances: (1) when the patentee acts as its own lexicographer and sets out a definition for the term; and (2) when the patentee disavows the full scope of the term either in the specification or during prosecution. Thorner v. Sony Comput. Ent. Am. LLC, 669 F.3d 1362, 1365 (Fed. Cir. 2012). The Federal Circuit’s recent decision in Aortic Innovations LLC v. Edwards Lifesciences Corp. highlights that patentees can act as their own lexicographers through consistent, interchangeable usage of terms across the specification, effectively defining terms by implication.
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