The Production Company for "The Morning Show" an Apple TV+ series featuring Jennifer Aniston, has asked a California federal court to overturn the ruling in favor of its insurer, Chubb National Insurance Company, that found Chubb was justified in denying benefits to Always Smiling Productions LLC during the start of the covid-19 pandemic.

This is the case of Always Smiling Productions LLC v. Chubb National Insurance Co., in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

In September, U.S. District Judge Fernando M. Olguin granted Chubb’s request for summary judgment finding that "under the policy's plain terms," the insurer was justified in denying benefits to Always Smiling Productions LLC after it had to halt production of the Apple TV+ show at the beginning of the pandemic.”

In July 2021, the production team filed a $44 million suit against Chubb in California seeking to recover COVID-19-related losses caused by production delays on "The Morning Show."

However, Judge Olguin’s ruling dismissing “Always Smiling Productions” was no laughing matter, leading the production company to seek review by the Ninth Circuit court seeking a reversal of Judge Olguin’s order.

Kirk Pasich, Pamela Woods, Kayla Robinson, and Jacquelyn Heitman of Pasich LLP, represent Always Smiling.

Attorneys for Always Smiling assert that the lower court “erroneously” found that the insurer did not owe coverage for its production delays amid the pandemic, even though Judge Olguin specifically found that Always Smiling “failed to allege a covered loss under a film producers risk policy.”

The circuit brief filed by Always Smiling, claims that the lower court "failed to properly consider the facets of the unique coverage provided by the policy" or “incorrectly relied on rulings addressing coverage for pandemic-related losses under property policies that require "direct physical loss of or damage to property."

In addition to its covid-related losses, the production company seeks damages for bad-faith handling of its claims. According to Always Smiling, the court's ruling regarding coverage was erroneous, so the dismissal of its bad faith claim is also erroneous.

The production company is also arguing that it is entitled to coverage under the policy's provision for mitigation of loss, which it says required Chubb to use due diligence to avoid loss.

Chubb’s argument has always been that the production company was only entitled to recover a maximum of $1 million agreed to under the policy's civil authority provision due to government-imposed covid shutdown orders.

U.S. District Judge Fernando M. Olguin ruled that Chubb was justified in its denial of coverage, saying the plain terms of the policy do not permit coverage for the production company's pandemic-related losses.

The production company argues that the lower court ruling cut it off from engaging in discovery from which it could have obtained extrinsic evidence by granting Chubb's motion for judgment.

The production company’s brief to the Ninth Circuit added that it also should have been granted leave to amend its complaint.

Many district courts across the country have thrown out more than half of the thousands of lawsuits filed by policyholders against their insurance companies seeking to recover pandemic losses. It would appear that these types of cases are generally in favor of insurance companies.

As always, we'll keep you updated on any new developments in this case.