Durham restaurants request NC Supreme Court review insurance payments lawsuit
Two acclaimed Triangle restaurant owners are asking the North Carolina Supreme Court to review their case against their insurance company for not honoring their business interruption policies when they had to close as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The suit was filed in May 2020 on behalf of Matt Kelly, who owns Mateo Bar de Tapas, Mothers & Sons Trattoria, Saint James Seafood and Lucky's Delicatessen, and Giorgios Bakatsias, owner of Vin Rouge, Parizade, Rosewater, Bin 54, City Kitchen, Village Burger and Kipos, Farm Table and Gatehouse Tavern, against the Cincinnati Insurance Company.
In the lawsuit, the owners asked the insurance company to honor its contracts by "requiring payment for lost business income, extra expenses, and other business related losses in light of COVID-19 and the related actions by governmental authorities requiring closure of their covered business premises."
In October 2020, a Durham County Superior Court judge ruled in favor of the restaurants, saying the losses should be covered.
Cincinnati Insurance Companies appealed the decision.
Last month, the North Carolina Court of Appeals reversed the Durham Superior Court's ruling. Judge Chris Dillon wrote that the panel found that the "unambiguous terms of the policies did not provide the coverage plaintiffs sought."
"My clients – Matt Kelly, Giorgios Bakatsias, their partners and restaurants – have suffered tremendous losses from the Covid-19 pandemic and the government shutdown orders," attorney Gagan Gupta told WRAL News in July. "We are disappointed by today's ruling from the North Carolina Court of Appeals which reverses the lower court's ruling requiring my clients' insurer, The Cincinnati Insurance Company, to help pay for those losses. The lower court's ruling was the correct ruling and we are considering the full range of options to hold Cincinnati to the promises it made in the business interruption insurance policy that it sold to my clients."
Lawyers on behalf the restaurateurs on Monday filed a petition with the North Carolina Supreme Court for discretionary review of the appellate court's decision.
"This Court’s discretionary review of the Court of Appeals’ order is appropriate because the subject matter of this appeal has significant public interest, the cause involves legal principles of major significance to the jurisprudence of the State, and the decision of the Court of Appeals conflicts with multiple decisions of this Court," the petition stated. "Discretionary review is also pressing because the long-term viability of many small businesses across our State hangs in the balance. Business interruption insurance—which is designed to provide certainty during periods of lost business income caused by fortuitous risks like the Government Orders at issue here—will play a key role in how our State recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic."
