In a case that may be a harbinger for others like it to come, a Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas judge has rejected an insurance agent’s dismissal motion in a suit in which the agent has been sued for negligence by a gym that has been denied COVID-19-caused loss coverage.

In a detailed decision, Judge Terrence Nealon has ruled that the agent, C.C. Young & Henkelman Insurance, must file a responsive pleading to plaintiff Brown’s Gym’s complaint. The judge turned back the agent’s preliminary objections seeking early dismissal of the claims against it, which were based on the agent allegedly failing to obtain for the gym the insurance coverage it had requested.