Chicago Tavern Loses Bid for COVID-19 Business Interruption Coverage

CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge has dismissed a Chicago tavern’s COVID-19 business interruption coverage action against The Cincinnati Insurance Co., finding it did not sustain “direct physical loss or damage to property” as required by the policy.

In a Nov. 19 order, Judge Harry D. Leinenweber of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois ruled that the language “loss to” requires a physical loss to the property itself, not the loss of use of the property to the insured.

T & E Chicago LLC, which operates the Navigator Taproom in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago, …