In a rare ruling, Cinemark theaters won the chance to keep litigating against its insurance company, seeking losses under a $500 million policy for business interruption from COVID-19.

U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant of the Eastern District of Texas ruled that Cinemark Holdings Inc.’s allegations that COVID-19 entered its facilities—infecting 1,700 employees and physically changing the content of the air—were enough to survive Factory Mutual Insurance Co.’s arguments that the case should face an early dismissal.