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Law360 (August 5, 2020, 10:04 PM EDT) -- Travel insurer Assicurazioni Generali Group was hit with another proposed class action Wednesday, accusing it of wrongfully denying a trip cancellation claim after the insured was exposed to COVID-19 and went through quarantine.
The proposed class action, filed in Kansas federal court, alleges that Generali U.S. has refused to provide reimbursements for a canceled road trip and accommodations in Texas, only offering a voucher that the policyholder never requested.
The class representative said the family had to cancel the trip and stay in quarantine after her daughter was exposed to COVID-19 in July, before the family was planning to drive from Kansas to Texas. The complaint claimed that trip cancellation and quarantine due to unforeseeable events are explicitly covered by the Generali's travel insurance.
Audra Sanchez of Sedgwick County, Kansas, said she bought a $254 travel insurance policy with Generali in May, when she paid $3,500 through Vrbo.com to reserve a waterfront beach house in Rockport, Texas, for a family vacation in July. Sanchez and her family planned to drive to Texas on July 24, her complaint said.
However, on July 13, Sanchez found out that her daughter had been directly exposed to COVID-19 while playing at a friend's house. Sanchez, who has an autoimmune disorder, was told by her doctor to do a two-week quarantine with her family the next day. Sanchez submitted to Generali her doctor's letter, which directed her family to quarantine until at least Aug. 1, along with her trip cancellation claim on July 15.
Five days later, Generali denied her claim. Sanchez said that instead of covering her loss of over $3,000, the insurer offered a voucher for the premium amount she paid at $254.
Sanchez said the policy defined quarantine as "enforced isolation of you or your traveling companion," exactly what she and her family experienced. She said the family had to go through the enforceable quarantine based on a doctor's suggestion and the Kansas Health Department's guidelines. And her daughter's exposure to COVID-19 was a covered "unforeseeable event" out of her control, she said.
In the complaint, Sanchez said she did not make the trip reservation until after Texas and Kansas lifted stay-at-home orders in late April and early May. She said that on May 10, when she booked the trip, COVID-19 was not spreading in her community and that the only other state that would have been involved in the road trip would be Oklahoma, which never issued any stay-at-home orders or travel restrictions.
The class representative said that she would not have bought the policy had it warned "expressly or impliedly" that it would not cover claims arising from COVID-19 in any way.
Sanchez alleged that Generali has "adopted an approach to categorically issue denials to every claim arising during the natural disaster that was brought on by COVID-19." She sought to represent a national class or an alternative Kansas class of Generali policyholders who have been prevented from traveling during the pandemic.
Sanchez is asking the court to hold that Generali should indemnify the proposed class for their trip cancellations as required by the policy. She is demanding damages to be determined in a jury trial as well as attorney fees.
Generali has stated on its website that "there will be no coverage for COVID-19 related losses occurring on or after March 11, 2020, the date COVID-19 was formally declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization."
In June, Generali was slapped with a proposed class action in New York federal court accusing it of wrongfully withholding premiums for canceled trips despite the policyholder's "numerous requests," instead giving out vouchers that require rebooking by the end of the year.
Last month, a Texas woman sued Generali in another proposed class action over the insurer's refusal to cover canceled road trips and accommodations for her daughter's wedding in Florida. She alleged that Generali had promised to send "detailed explanations" for the coverage denial but never did.
Representatives for the parties could not be immediately reached for comment.
Sanchez is represented by Nathaniel Scearcy and Timothy L. Sifers of The Potts Law Firm LLP.
Counsel for Generali was not immediately available.
The case is Sanchez v. Generali U.S. Branch et al., case number 2:20-cv-02380, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas.
--Editing by Haylee Pearl.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
