Fla. Breakfast Chain Loses Bid for COVID-19 Business Interruption Coverage

RICHMOND, Va. — The owner of a Florida breakfast chain is not entitled to coverage for COVID-19-related losses from Colony Insurance Co. because its insured properties did not sustain “direct physical loss of or damage,” a Virginia federal judge has ruled.

In a March 10 order, Judge Henry E. Hudson of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia found that Skillets LLC d/b/a Skillets Restaurant failed to allege that the virus itself or the government closure orders issued during the pandemic did not “change, alter or damage” its property.

Coverage is therefore unavailable under the policy’s …