Skift Take
Struggling hospitality companies keep taking the insurance companies to court over denied claims during the pandemic. They're highly unlikely to win.
Caesars Entertainment is the latest hospitality company to wage a legal fight against its insurer to get a business interruption insurance payout due to government-ordered pandemic restrictions.
Based on legal precedent over the last year, the gaming company may not want to waste its time nor its law firm’s billable hours.
“It was an uphill battle to begin with, and the courts have not sided with the policyholders,” said Joshua Bowman, a partner at Boston-based law firm Sherin and Lodgen and chair of the firm’s hospitality practice. “It’s highly unlikely they will side with many policyholders going forward.”
A New Hampshire-based owner of hotels throughout the Northeast, the popular Legal Sea Foods restaurant chain, and now Caesars Entertainment are among the many U.S. businesses suing their insurance providers for denying business interruption insurance claims during the pandemic.
The Caesars case involves several insurers like Allianz and Markel Corp. as well as underwriters at Lloyd’s of London, which serves as a marketplace of independent insurers. The suit accuses them of denying coverage of more than $2 billion in losses during the pandemic. Caesars claims it paid more than $25 million in insurance premiums for a policy with a more than $3.4 billion limit.
Caesars and Lloyd’s of London declined to comment as did representatives with other named defendants like the insurance firm Chubb Ltd.
A representative with Markel declined to comment on the Caesars case but noted, “as always, we handle all COVID-19 related claims, including business interruption, in a fair, consistent manner in accordance with the terms of a policyholder’s specific policy.”
Pandemic Pullback
Companies, small and large, take out business interruption insurance to cover for any unexpected loss of i
