Manhattan Dental Practice Not Covered for COVID-19 Losses, Federal Judge Rules

NEW YORK — A New York federal judge has dismissed a Manhattan dental practice’s COVID-19 action against Sentinel Insurance Company Ltd. on the basis that there was no “direct physical loss of or physical damage to property.”

On Feb. 24, Judge Paul G. Gardephe of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York adopted a report and recommendation in which a magistrate judge rejected Sharde Harvey DDS PLLC’s argument that “the impairment of function” of property created by “operation of law” can constitute “physical damage.”

In his report, Magistrate Judge Robert W. Lehrburger said that government shutdown …