(Reuters) - In its final session this year, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation will hear arguments Thursday on two motions for pretrial consolidation of lawsuits against insurers that have denied coverage for COVID-19 related losses.

Thursday marks the third time the JPML has considered COVID-related insurance cases, and the panel's prior rulings have established its preference for insurer-specific MDLs. The current petitioners have noticed: The Potts Law Firm seeks to consolidate travel-insurance cases against Generali Group, while Levin Sedran & Berman and other firms seek an MDL for business-interruption insurance cases against Erie Insurance.

MDL NO. 2968 – In re Generali COVID-19 Travel Insurance Litigation

Derek Potts' client Tralisa Sheridan is seeking to consolidate lawsuits alleging breach of contract by U.S. affiliates of the Italian insurer, Assicurazioni Generali Group. The actions were filed by would-be vacationers who were denied coverage for cancellations caused by health issues, quarantine orders or pandemic-related restrictions.

Sheridan's motion, filed in August, sought to consolidate eight actions in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. As of Monday, 13 cases were pending.

Generali argues that there are too many case-specific variables to make an MDL worthwhile. For example, in some cases the policies expressly excluded pandemic-related cancellations; in others, the pandemic was already a "known risk" by the time the insured purchased the policy; in still others, Generali argues that the insured canceled the policy before any shutdown order, or that the restrictions imposed were not mandatory.

The proposed Generali MDL would be the first against a travel insurer over COVID-related coverage; however, the JPML in October created separate MDLs for ski-pass insurers Arch Insurance and United Specialty Insurance.

For Sheridan: Derek Potts of the Potts Law Firm

For Generali: Bronwyn Pollock of Mayer Brown

MDL NO. 2969 – In re Erie COVID-19 Business Interruption Protection Insurance Litigation

Business interruption insurance (BII) MDLs have been a tough sell to the JPML: it denied two motions for industrywide consolidation in August, and four motions for insurer-specific consolidation in October, against national and international carriers Cincinnati Insurance, the Hartford companies, Lloyd's of London and Travelers Insurance.

However, in October the JPML opted for an insurer-specific MDL for cases against Society Insurance, a Milwaukee-based regional carrier that does business in six states. (That MDL, No. 2964, was assigned to U.S. District Judge Edmond Chang in Chicago, who has already selected an interim steering committee, liaison counsel, and bellwether motions from three of the consolidated cases.)

Like Society, Pennsylvania-based Erie is a regional carrier; however, it has operations in 12 states. Laser Spa of Rochester and six other petitioners in August sought to consolidate 15 cases against Erie in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. On Monday, 27 cases were pending.

Erie opposes consolidation, arguing that the cases against it are too geographically dispersed and involve too many variations in policy language and underlying circumstances to justify creation of an MDL.

Other attorneys for Erie raised similar arguments in Pennsylvania state court last summer, but Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas Judge Christine Ward in July ordered all state-court cases to be transferred to her in Pittsburgh "for all pre-trial matters, trial, and full and final resolution."

Erie is appealing Ward's order.

For Laser Spa of Rochester et al: Arnold Levin of Levin Sedran & Berman; Adam Levitt of DiCello Levitt Gutzler; Mark Lanier of The Lanier Law Firm

For Erie: Adam Kaiser of Alston & Bird