NextSun Energy Littleton, LLC v. Acadia Insurance Company

[lbruning]

https://newenglandinhouse.com/2020/11/2 ... 20Company.
"An energy company’s insurance covered lost revenue from a town-ordered shutdown of more than 11,000 solar panels in response to a fire that damaged only 88 panels, a U.S. District Court judge has determined.

The plaintiff, NextSun Energy Littleton, operated solar panel arrays providing electricity to the town of Littleton, Massachusetts. When a fire damaged 88 of the panels, the town issued an order suspending from operation more than 11,000 of the plaintiff’s undamaged panels pending safety inspections.

The plaintiff sued its insurer, Acadia Insurance, when it refused to cover NextSun’s claim for lost revenue stemming from the undamaged panels being taken out of service pursuant to the town’s “red-tag” order.

According to defendant Acadia, the lost revenue from the undamaged panels was not covered because it was not the result of direct physical damage from a covered peril as required by the terms of the policy.

But Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV disagreed, granting summary judgment for NextSun on its breach-of-contract claim.

“In short, the plain text of the policy here indicates that, once direct physical damage from a covered peril causes an interruption of energy generation, any increase in the duration of the interruption caused by the enforcement of an ordinance or law extends the lost-income coverage,” Saylor wrote. “The enforcement of the ordinance or law does not need to be caused by direct physical loss associated with the covered peril.”

The 35-page decision is NextSun Energy Littleton, LLC v. Acadia Insurance Company."