Nationwide unit prevails in COVID case
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The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta on Friday continued its recent flurry of pro-insurer, COVID-19 business interruption rulings by deciding against an Acworth, Georgia-based restaurant in its litigation against a Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. unit.
As with the 11th Circuit’s earlier rulings, a three-judge appeals court panel held there was no “direct physical loss of or damage to” the plaintiff’s business property as required under its coverage. The case is Henry’s Louisiana Grill Inc. and Henry’s Uptown LLC v. Allied Insurance Company of America.
“Even if we assume that the governor’s COVID-19 order caused loss because it deprived the restaurant of the use of its property that does not result in a win for Henry’s,” the decision said.
“Allied agreed to provide for only one manner of loss – the physical loss of Henry’s property,” it said. “Henry’s has alleged nothing of this sort,” the panel said, in affirming an October 2020 ruling by the U.S. District Court in Atlanta.
Attorneys in the case had no comment or did not respond to a request for comment.
