The New York State Courtroom of Appeals, NY’s highest courtroom, has affirmed the Appellate Division’s order within the COVID-19 enterprise interruption case between Consolidated Restaurant Operations (CRO) and Westport Insurance coverage Company – the latter finally rising victorious within the disputed declare.

Previous to the case reaching the Appeals Courtroom, the Supreme Courtroom and the Appellate Division had dominated in favor of the insurer, declaring that CRO’s “all-risk” industrial property insurance coverage coverage didn’t cowl the alleged losses. Westport had argued that CRO couldn’t set up that the coronavirus induced direct bodily loss or injury to its eating places as a matter of regulation.

“This enchantment presents the query of whether or not allegations that SARS-Co-V-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, was current in insured eating places and resulted in cessation of in-person eating providers and associated enterprise interruption losses are ample to state a declare for ‘direct bodily loss or injury’, as that phrase is utilized in plaintiff’s property insurance coverage coverage,” Choose Halligan stated within the February 15 courtroom doc seen by Insurance coverage Enterprise.

“We maintain that direct bodily loss or injury requires a cloth alteration or a whole and chronic dispossession of insured property, which petitioner has not alleged. We due to this fact affirm the order beneath dismissing the criticism.”

Choose Halligan additionally said: “We don’t take frivolously the extreme financial losses incurred by eating places and different companies serving the general public because of the COVID-19 pandemic. However our activity is to faithfully interpret the phrases of the insurance coverage coverage earlier than us, to not ‘rewrite the language

of the coverage at difficulty’ to achieve a end result with ‘equitable enchantment’…

“The protection provisions relied upon by CRO solely cowl financial losses to the extent they’re brought on by ‘direct bodily loss or injury’ to insured property. We conclude that the enterprise interruption brought on by the precise presence of the coronavirus on the premises of CRO’s insured property, as alleged within the criticism, is inadequate to set off such protection.”            

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