The COVID-19 pandemic ravaged businesses across the country in unprecedented ways. For the first time in modern American history, businesses shuttered their doors for months, most in direct response to state and local orders mandating their closure. Many will never reopen.

As surviving businesses begin to reopen and attempt to regain solid financial footing, many have looked to their business insurance policies to try to recover the income they lost. However, a ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia in October indicates businesses will need to look elsewhere for financial healing. Chief Judge Thomas Thrash joined courts across the country in rejecting bids for business income coverage because the insureds cannot show the “direct physical loss” the policies require.