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Business interruption claim picture cloudy.

Article Excerpt
As risk managers and their property insurers sort through the array of claims arising from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, coverage remains an unpredictable element.

Although policyholders with physical property damage will likely be reimbursed for income lost from the attacks, current economic conditions could make negotiations about the size of those reimbursements contentious, some coverage experts say.

And businesses in New York and Washington that suffered income losses because authorities prohibited access to their facilities may be able to collect if they purchased the civil authority coverage endorsement that can be added to most business income policies.

It remains to be seen, though, whether businesses outside of the affected areas that suffered income losses because of government-ordered airport and border closures can collect from insurers.

``There is very little legal precedent regarding the application of some of the more exotic coverages that could apply here, such as interruption by civil authority, ingress/egress, service interruption and contingent ,'' said John Dempsey, managing partner of Myers & Co. L.L.P., an accounting firm in Wilton, Conn., that specializes in the preparation of claims.

The civil authority endorsement pays for income lost when

access to the place of business is prohibited by order of civil authorities,...