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Insurance companies denying Georgia businesses, properties key insurance coverage

The state is working with lawmakers on insurance reform that helps keeps businesses safe.

ATLANTA — Local businesses and property owners are in a battle to protect their investments. 

Georgia has noticed that insurance companies are denying them assault and battery insurance in high-crime areas, making it hard to attract new businesses. 

Avi Wolf was faced with a denial himself. The property owner said he was denied assault and battery coverage for his apartment complex because of the crime in the neighborhood on Cleveland Avenue on Atlanta's south side.

Atlanta Police Department data shows there have been 382 aggravated assault incidents so far this year in Zone 3, which includes Wolf's property.

"We've shopped it with dozens of insurance companies," Wolf said. "We cannot obtain assault and battery coverage. The mayor's office is aware of this. This is a very important property to them as we have many of their residents here."

Wolf says although his complex hasn't had problems, it's just a matter of if and when. No assault and battery insurance means he's liable if a violent crime happens here and someone sues him.

"According to the way the law in Georgia is written, we're responsible for that and that is all chased away insurance companies from wanting to operate here," he said.

He believes multi-million dollar lawsuits are part of the problem.

In a notable case, a man was awarded nearly $43 million after he was shot during a robbery in an Atlanta CVS parking lot along Moreland Avenue. The man was waiting for someone to sell him an iPad, and he chose the store's parking lot as a meetup spot.

When CVS appealed, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled businesses are liable when someone is hurt on their property if the criminal act was "reasonably foreseeable."

DeKalb County Chief Executive-elect Lorraine Cochran-Johnson said she's also heard of businesses within her county dealing with coverage denials.

"One of my No. 1 priorities is creating safe communities and ensuring people who do business have a good environment in which to do it. Being denied assault and battery insurance? That doesn’t work for me, and it should not be allowed," she said. "Charge more – but don’t deny because it has consequences for the community."

It's an issue that spans beyond assault and battery insurance and one the state is working to address, according to Georgia's Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John King. When asked what can be done, King said there's no easy fix.

"We operate in a market, in a market economy," he explained. "To tell a company what they should sell, what they have to sell...what happens if we make it so restrictive?"

King said steps are already in place to help him address what's slowly becoming an insurance crisis in Georgia. A new law dubbed the Data Analysis for TORT Reform Act gives him the authority to demand data from insurance companies about claims and the settlements they reach. King is not a lawmaker, but the information collected will be used to present a report to the state legislature.

"My job is to find solutions," he said. "And what we're doing is trying to provide an environment where legislators can see the state of the marketplace and come up with some commonsense reforms to cut down some of the abuses."

However, he warns that it could take a couple of years.

Until then, Wolf has to decide if the cost of doing business in Georgia is all risk and no reward.

"We have to make a decision if we wanna continue to stay here with this type of exposure," he said, "or if we wanna pack up and leave."

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