NC court: Restaurants can’t get insurance payouts for virus

RALEIGH, NC (AP) — A North Carolina appeals court says some restaurants that closed during the coronavirus pandemic when government orders restricted them can’t be recompensed for losses through their insurance policies.

A three-judge panel of the state Court of Appeals reversed on Tuesday the decision of a trial judge who declared policy language provided business-interruption coverage for over a dozen restaurants, most of them in the Triangle.

But the appeals court sided with the insurers, saying policy payouts required that a “direct physical loss or damage to the property” occurred.

Gov. Roy Cooper issued a statewide order in March 2020 limiting restaurant sales to carry-out and delivery services.