A federal appeals court is asking the California Supreme Court to consider whether a virus exclusion in famed Napa Valley restaurant The French Laundry’s coverage is unenforceable.
In one of the first Covid-19 business interruption cases to be filed, the Yountville-based restaurant, its sister restaurant Bouchon Bistro and its chef and owner Tom Keller filed suit in state court in March 2020 against a unit of Hartford Financial Services Inc. with its pandemic-related closures.
the case, French Laundry Partners et al. v Hartford Fire Insurance Co ., was later transferred to federal court. The U.S. District Court in San Francisco granted the insurer’s motion to dismiss the case in April 2021
due to the coverage’s virus exclusion.In its filing Monday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said the virus exclusion does not apply to coverage otherwise provided by a “fungus, wet rot, dry rot, bacteria and virus limited coverage” provision in the policy.
In its filing, the three-judge appeals court panel noted that two California appeals courts have considered policies containing virus exclusion clauses, and one of them, in a judgment on 27 Dec John’s Grill Inc. v. Hartford Financial Services Group Inc.concluded that the virus exclusion could not be enforced because “it would make the limited virus coverage illusory.”
“While both state and federal courts have published opinions that provide some guidance, there remains considerable uncertainty about how California law applies in many scenarios (such as the scenario presented in this case),” the panel said in asking the state’s highest court to consider the problem.
The California Supreme Court has yet to rule on whether policyholders are entitled to COVID-19-related business interruption coverage.
Attorneys in the case did not respond to requests for coverage.
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