Philly Bar & Restaurant Loses Bid for COVID-19 Business Interruption Coverage

PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania federal court has granted Axis Insurance Co.’s motion to dismiss a Philadelphia restaurant’s COVID-19 coverage action, ruling that the virus did not cause “physical damage” to the insured property, as required by the policy.

In a Feb. 12 order, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania found that the restaurant’s losses were caused by government closure orders and modifications to its operations due to the risk of transmission of the virus at its premises, “not some speculative, unprovable physical damage or unknown condition of the property.”

In a July 14 complaint, Whiskey Flats …