As part of Law360’s ongoing coverage of Skillets, LLC v. Colony Insurance Company, the digital legal publication recently published two articles, “Colony Pans 4th Circ. Appeal in Skillets COVID Coverage Fight,” and “Insurance Groups Tell 4th Circ. Covid Losses Not Covered.”
“Colony Pans 4th Circ. Appeal in Skillets COVID Coverage Fight” provides an update of the appellate case in which Stewart Smith represents Colony Insurance Co., which asked the court to reject the restaurant chain’s bid to revive its suit over uncovered COVID-19 losses because there was no physical damage to the eateries’ properties. Skillets, which operates nine restaurants in southwest Florida with Good Breakfast LLC, sued Colony last year in a proposed class action, claiming the insurer wrongfully denied it coverage for pandemic-related losses after it was forced to temporarily stop in-person dining. The article quotes Colony saying, “Courts in Florida, and with very few exceptions, courts across the entire United States, have recognized that business closures associated with COVID-19 government shutdown orders do not constitute business interruption caused by ‘direct physical loss of or damage to’ property.”
The article, “Insurance Groups Tell 4th Circ. Covid Losses Not Covered,” reports on two organizations – The American Property Casualty Insurance Association and the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies – that support Colony in its denial of coverage under its business interruption policy. According to the article, the groups assert that commercial property insurance policies pay only for losses related to natural disasters, such as fires and hurricanes, and were never intended to cover pure financial losses from a pandemic.
Related law360 article.
Fla. Restaurants Want 4th Circ. To Revive Virus Coverage Suit