In the first of what will likely be an exponentially growing tide of businesses turning to insurance coverage for financial relief from the economic downturn caused by the global coronavirus pandemic and response, on March 17, 2020, a restaurant filed a lawsuit seeking business interruption insurance coverage for alleged losses caused by executive orders issued by Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards. In Cajun Conti LLC, et al. v. Certain Underwriters, et al., the plaintiff-restaurant (“Oceana Grill”) filed its lawsuit seeking coverage under an alleged “all risks” commercial property insurance policy that Oceana Grill purchased from the defendant-insurer. Oceana Grill alleges that the policy provides “property, business personal property, business income and extra expense, and ordinance or law coverage” caused by “all risks” unless specifically excluded (unlike a “specified” or “named” “perils” policy, which provides coverage for loss resulting from specific, named risks).
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