Calif. Restaurant’s COVID-19 Action Dismissed for Lack of Physical Damage

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge has dismissed a restaurant’s COVID-19 business interruption coverage action against Travelers Indemnity of Connecticut, ruling that coverage is not available because the eatery did not sustain “direct physical loss of or damage” as required by its policy.

In an Aug. 28 order, Judge Steven V. Wilson of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California explained that under state law, “losses from inability to use property do not amount to ‘direct physical loss of or damage to property’ within the ordinary and popular meaning of that phrase.”

“Physical loss or …