A Court Victory Gave Local Restaurateurs a Glimmer of Hope--And Set a National Precedent. But Their

[TexasTowelie]

A Court Victory Gave Local Restaurateurs a Glimmer of Hope—And Set a National Precedent. But Their Insurance Company Is Fighting Back.


When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, insurance brokers warned restaurant clients against trying to file for coverage in the event of a shutdown. Insurers had preemptively and categorically refused to consider claims.

Early last month, though, a Superior Court judge ruled that Cincinnati Insurance Company, one of the largest property insurers in the country, was liable for coverage in a lawsuit brought collectively by sixteen restaurants.

The decision hit home for two reasons. One was that the restaurants are here in the Triangle. They include the Matt Kelly and Giorgios Bakatsias portfolio: Mateo Tapas, Saint James Seafood, Vin Rouge, and more than a dozen others “who use our resources and make management decisions together on a regular basis,” Kelly told the INDY.

The other reason: among over 1,000 similar suits brought nationwide during the pandemic, this is the first that any plaintiff has won; strictly speaking, it is “the first judgment in the country that is nonprocedural and finds that coverage should be provided,” says Gagan Gupta from Hillsborough-based Paynter Law, the lead attorney on the case. The victory, he adds, “will hopefully be precedent for North Carolina and for states around the country.”

Read more: https://indyweek.com/food-and-drink/features/matt-kelly-Giorgios-Bakatsias-fight-against-insurance-companies/

[Cha]

1. KR..

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[AllyCat]

2. Troubling news about NC judicial races

All partisan and all went to republicans? Ugh.

[uponit7771]

3. kGOP understands down ballot is more way more valuable in some areas than top of ticket

[dsc]

4. yeah we had a bad election here in 2020

fortunately in terms of the judiciary we had a great election in 2018 so the SCOTNC is either 4/3 or 5/2 our favor after this election (one race is in recount land) and I think we still have a majority on the appellate court as well just a much smaller one. But we elect alot of little offices and the GOP won the majority of them. Our council of state is made up of LT gov (GOP won), AG (Dem won), Auditor (Dem won), Ag commisioner (GOP won), Insurance commissioner (GOP won), Labor (GOP won), Secretary of State (Dem won), State Superitendent (GOP won), treasurer (GOP won). That is in addition to the judge seats that we lost either 7 of 8 or 8 of 8. Basically we lost most races around 52 to 48 with Cooper winning gov by around 6 (best Dem showing) and us losing Ag sec by about 8 (our worst showing). But nearly all of the rest the GOP won were just about 52/48.