First Watch Restaurant Chain’s COVID-19 Losses Not Covered, Fla. Federal Judge Rules

TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida federal judge has ruled that Zurich American Insurance Co. is not obligated to cover a restaurant chain’s COVID-19 business interruption losses because there was no “direct physical loss of or damage to property.”

In a Feb. 4 order, Judge Virginia Hernandez Covington of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida dismissed First Watch Restaurant Inc.’s action with prejudice, concluding that its economic losses are “not the kind of physical loss or damage contemplated by the policy.”

First Watch owns more than 400 restaurant locations operating in 29 states. The eateries, a majority …