Broadway Production Co. Cannot Recoup COVID-19 Losses from Insurer, N.Y. Federal Judge Rules

NEW YORK — A live theatre production and distribution company cannot recoup from Federal Insurance Co. losses it sustained when its Broadway musicals, including “Moulin Rouge!” and “Hamilton,” were canceled during the COVID-19 pandemic because it did not sustain “direct physical loss or damage,” a New York federal judge has ruled.

On March 23, Judge Paul Gardephe of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York adopted a magistrate judge’s recommendation that The John Gore Organization Inc. needed to show “demonstrable physical harm of some form to the premises,” and that mere loss of use was …