Calif. Michelin-Starred Restaurant Loses Battle for COVID-19 Coverage

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge has dismissed with prejudice a Michelin-starred restaurant’s COVID-19 business interruption insurance action against Sentinel Insurance Co., ruling the policy’s virus exclusion bars coverage for its losses, all of which were directly or proximately caused by a virus.

In a Sept. 28 order, Judge Beth L. Freeman of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California found Protégé Restaurant Partners LLC failed to cure the deficiencies in its first amended complaint, which she had dismissed without prejudice in February.

Protégé was forced to stop in-person dining at its Palo Alto, Calif., …