Zurich Must Pay for Restaurants’ COVID-19 Losses, Ohio Federal Judge Rules

CLEVELAND — An Ohio federal judge has ordered Zurich American Insurance Co. to pay for COVID-19 business interruption losses incurred by a group of restaurants, finding they experienced a loss of their real property by being forced to suspend dine-in operations.

In a Jan. 19 order, Judge Dan Aaron Polster of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio explained that the insured properties “were used almost exclusively for in-person dining,” and that the Zurich policy did not require a permanent “loss of” property.

“Zurich’s Policy did not require a permanent ‘loss of’ property and permanency is not …