The group of chefs includes Thomas Keller (of famed French Laundry in Napa), Wolfgang Puck, Daniel Boulud, Jean-George Vongerichten, Jerome Bocuse, Dominque Crenn and Edouardo Jordan. The claim by the restaurant industry is that insurers are wrongfully denying business interruption claims for all businesses throughout the U.S.
In fact, Keller has sued his insurer, The Hartford, arguing that it should cover coronavirus-related business losses. Keller has laid off most of his 1,200 employees and shut down his restaurant empire as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In an article published in Fast Company, Keller states:
“I am suing my insurance company, the Hartford Fire Insurance Company, because right now, when we need them, they won’t help us. Since opening The French Laundry, we’ve paid about $15 million over 25 years for business interruption insurance. But now that we need the payouts, they are denying us and many others relief because in many policies events like viruses are excluded. A lot of insurers made sure of that after SARS broke out in 2003. It’s like being denied medical insurance because of a preexisting condition. It’s irresponsible and amoral.
“I have a special clause in my policy to cover events like this—and I am still not getting money from them. If they’re not using the cash we pay them to help us, what are they using it for? If they don’t help us now, who is going to trust insurance companies going forward? I hope my case will set a legal precedent. If restaurants survive because [insurance companies] help them, we’re going to come back and keep paying for insurance. It’s a better situation than half a million restaurants closing.”
BIG’s goal is to put legal and political pressure on insurance companies to cover restaurants. BIG supports federal subsidies for insurers that pay business interruption losses caused by the coronavirus.