Edmonton Oilers sue insurers for $174M over 'massive' pandemic losses

The Edmonton Oilers and its associated companies are suing four insurance firms for what's described in a statement of claim filed with the Court of Queen's Bench as "massive business losses" over a two-year period during the pandemic.  

On March 12, 2020, the NHL halted its season. Shortly after, mandatory government orders kept fans, clients and customers from entering or using Rogers Place arena. 

The lawsuit, filed March 16, 2022, says the COVID-19 virus physically altered the interior air, surfaces and interior of Rogers Place, "making them unfit for their intended use."  

The insurers, say the plaintiffs, have decided "viruses do not cause physical loss or damage."

The statement of claim suggests that if the Oilers organization had allowed fans back into the building in 2020 and 2021, "it is a certainty that COVID-19 and the COVID-19 virus would have been reintroduced in large quantities into those insured locations and additional and substantial physical loss and damage would have continued." 

According to the court document, the prevalence COVID-19 in the province reached "materially dangerous levels" that were understated early in the pandemic due to limited testing and contract tracing. 

"The presence of COVID-19 and the COVID-19 virus in the plaintiffs' facilities made the normal use of those facilities impossible for almost two years," the court document states, adding that the facility is in a high-density location and adjacent to an LRT station, resulting in "numerous infectious individuals" carrying the virus in and onto their properties by "breathing, talking, coughing, shouting and touching."

The Oilers group of companies purchased what's referred to as an all risks policy, which it thought was supposed