PUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 22-1853

ELEGANT MASSAGE, LLC, d/b/a Light Stream Spa, on behalf of itself and all others similarly situated,

Plaintiff - Appellee,

v.

STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY; STATE FARM FIRE AND CASUALTY COMPANY,

Defendants - Appellants.

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AMERICAN PROPERTY CASUALTY INSURANCE ASSOCIATION; AMERICAN TORT REFORM ASSOCIATION; NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANIES,

Amici Supporting Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Norfolk. Raymond A. Jackson, Senior District Judge. (2:20−cv−00265−RAJ−RJK)

Argued: September 20, 2023 Decided: March 8, 2024

Before DIAZ, Chief Judge, WYNN, Circuit Judge, and KEENAN, Senior Circuit Judge.

Reversed and remanded with instructions by published opinion. Senior Judge Keenan wrote the majority opinion, in which Chief Judge Diaz joined. Judge Wynn wrote an opinion concurring in the judgment in part and dissenting in part.

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ARGUED: Christina Guerola Sarchio, DECHERT LLP, Washington, D.C., for Appellants. Melissa L. Yeates, KESSLER TOPAZ MELTZER & CHECK, LLP, Radnor, Pennsylvania, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Douglas W. Dunham, Bert L. Wolff, DECHERT LLP, New York, New York; Theodore I. Brenner, Alexander S. de Witt, FREEBORN & PETERS LLP, Richmond, Virginia; Joseph A. Cancila, Jr., James P. Gaughan, RILEY SAFER HOLMES & CANCILA LLP, Chicago, Illinois, for Appellants. Joseph H. Meltzer, Tyler S. Graden, Jordan Jacobson, KESSLER TOPAZ MELTZER & CHECK, LLP, Radnor, Pennsylvania; William H. Monroe, Jr., Marc C. Greco, Kip A. Harbison, Michael A. Glasser, GLASSER AND GLASSER, P.L.C., Norfolk, Virginia; James E. Cecchi, Lindsey H. Taylor, Donald A. Ecklund, Zachary A. Jacobs, CARELLA, BYRNE, CECCHI, OLSTEIN, BRODY & AGNELLO, P.C., Roseland, New Jersey, for Appellee. Wystan M. Ackerman, ROBINSON & COLE LLP, Hartford, Connecticut, for Amici American Property Casualty Insurance Association and National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies. H. Sherman Joyce, Lauren Sheets Jarrell, AMERICAN TORT REFORM ASSOCIATION, Washington, D.C.; Steven P. Lehotsky, Scott A. Keller, Jeremy Evan Maltz, Washington, D.C., Katherine C. Yarger, LEHOTSKY KELLER LLP, Denver, Colorado, for Amicus American Tort Reform Association.

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BARBARA MILANO KEENAN, Senior Circuit Judge:

In this appeal of a class action certification order, we consider a complaint alleging

breach of contract and other related claims. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance

Company (State Farm) appeals the district court’s certification of a class of businesses that

was denied insurance coverage when several Virginia executive orders required full or

partial closure of those businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. State Farm also asks,

based on our recent decision in Uncork & Create LLC v. Cincinnati Insurance Co., 27

F.4th 926 (4th Cir. 2022), which similarly addressed a question of commercial property

insurance coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic, that we exercise pendent