Owner of Upstate N.Y. Fine Dining Restaurant Loses Battle for COVID-19 Coverage

NEW YORK — The owner of an upstate New York fine dining restaurant cannot recoup its COVID-19-related losses from The Sentinel Insurance Co. because it did not sustain “direct physical loss of or physical damage to” its property, as required by the policy’s business interruption and extra expense coverages.

In a Nov. 18 order, Judge Philip M. Halpern of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York further found the policy’s civil authority provision was not triggered because plaintiff did not allege that any government order barred it from accessing its property.

Torches on the Hudson LLC …