Hampshire House Corp., which owns both the original and Faneuil Hall Cheers bars and the 75 on Liberty waterfront bar, this week sued three insurance companies to recoup the losses its incurred since the city and state shut down bars in March due to Covid-19 reasons.
In its lawsuit, filed this week in US District Court in Boston, the company says the losses should be covered under an "an all-risk" commercial-property policy it purchased last August, and that the three insurance companies that backed the policy should pay for losses at the bars, the related restaurants and function facility and at the Cheers gift shop.
"The Policy includes cause of loss coverages for business income losses and extra expenses from all risks including for civil authority actions," which certainly includes the orders issued by Mayor Walsh on March 15 and Gov. Baker on March 23 that effectively put the bars and function hall out of business and dramatically reduced the income from the restaurants and gift shop.
In a denial letter, Allianz Global Risks United States Insurance Co., says the policy only relates to physical damage to property and related "civil authority actions" and that the Hampshire House properties have not suffered any physical damage, nor has the government issued any orders related directly to them or their surrounding neighborhoods.
That's a similar argument made by Legal Sea Foods's insurer in denying that chain Covid-19 coverage - over which Legal has sued.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 Complete complaint | 285.41 KB |
| Insurance-company denial letter | 279.05 KB |
Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!
Ad:
Comments
Always read your insurance policy carefully
By Lecil
Wed, 07/29/2020 - 12:44pm
Business Interruption coverage, typically a rider on the property insurance policy, usually have a carve-out for pandemics.
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/business-interruption-insurance.asp
Yeah, insurance companies
By anon
Wed, 07/29/2020 - 2:11pm
Yeah, insurance companies have been playing this game a lot longer than you have. So they made sure to add exclusions for anything that might actually lead to a claim.
I'm going to take a wild guess
By gremies
Wed, 07/29/2020 - 6:34pm
and say they have lawyers... who know more about this than you... and they've actually read the contract--unlike you.
I attempt to read my
By anon
Thu, 07/30/2020 - 1:49am
I attempt to read my insurance contracts. But have you ever read one? They make it pretty hard to understand.
Never Forget
By John Costello
Wed, 07/29/2020 - 12:47pm
Never forget that a person who owns a bar got lucky when a production company came up with an idea for a tv show that happened to look a hell of a lot like a local production on Channel 5 (See Park Street Under - the tv show), and turned it into an 11-year run of one of the funniest tv shows to ever grace the screen.
Never forget, though it seems to have been scrubbed from Google, that a certain bar owner, who made millions and millions of dollars selling t-shirts to the Jeds and Melindas of the world called for financial relief only a few days after 9/11 because no one was coming to his establishment to buy t-shirts.
This person compared his plight to the same as the temporarily shut down airlines, since you all know that t-shirts are as vital to the economy as the ability to move around the country quickly. All this while fires will still raging in Lower Manhattan and services were being held for those lost.
I'd never thought I would cheer on an insurance company, but go Allianz go.
I remember!
By Ann
Wed, 07/29/2020 - 9:55pm
If I recall correctly, a Globe columnist referred to him as a “pathetic t-shirt peddler” after his 9-11 claim.
Unfortunately
By Ctygrl
Wed, 07/29/2020 - 12:50pm
After the SARS outbreak in 03-04, many insurance companies added a virus exclusion because it is extremely hard to prove a virus caused physical damage that interrupts businesses. I believe some (but not many) are coming up with ways to work with their insured.
">https://www.youtube.com
By roadman
Wed, 07/29/2020 - 3:19pm
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_UZiwNXWVE[/youtube]
No more mystique of Brahmin
By anon
Wed, 07/29/2020 - 8:42pm
No more mystique of Brahmin history.
Pandemonium
By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 07/30/2020 - 9:34am
It will be interesting to see how this works out. And how it works out might depend on how the insurance company sold the policy and how it is structured. I won't make any guesses because insurance companies sometimes price products based on known risks rather than unknown risks, then claim the unknown ones were not covered under the word "all" when they are not specifically excluded.
It is indeed up to the courts to decide what that "all" means.
Wimbledon wasn't taking any chances with this game: https://www.sbnation.com/tennis/2020/4/8/21214031/...