Law360 Features Tim Burns in “Attys Say State High Courts Should Weigh Covid Issues”

In putting together its recent COVID article, Law 360 reached out to Burns Bowen Bair’s own Tim Burns to weigh in on this issue.

Tim Burns of Burns Bowen Bair LLP, who counsels policyholders, described what’s going on at the Seventh and Sixth Circuits — another federal appellate court that has put out several rulings — like a dinner scene in the 1983 comedy film, “Reuben, Reuben” where an arrogant upper middle class type drones on to a Scottish poet about taking a speed-reading course.

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Restaurant Operator Argues for COVID-Related Insurance Relief

Law360 recently spoke to Burns Bowen Bair co-founder Tim Burns regarding a restaurant operator seeking relief from pandemic-related shutdown orders. The operator, Gavrilides Management Co. LLC, is seeking an appeal of a trial court’s July 2020 decision that said there needed to be tangible, physical damage to its properties in order to warrant coverage. Read more

Hotels Argue for Insurance Coverage Before Seventh Circuit

A recent article in Law360 details several businesses, including a Ritz-Carlton in Texas and a Quality Inn in Illinois, arguing before a Seventh Circuit panel that they each had insurance coverage wrongly denied after suffering losses resulting from pandemic-related government shutdown orders.

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Pizza Companies Ask Eleventh Circuit to Reverse Virus Coverage Decisions

Attorneys Tim Burns, Jeff Bowen, Jesse Bair, and Freya Bowen are representing Gio Pizzeria & Bar Hospitality LLC of Coral Springs and Gio Pizzeria Boca of Boca Raton. The pizza companies recently asked the Eleventh Circuit to reverse a string of lower court decisions denying them insurance coverage after pandemic-related shutdown orders forced them to close their business.

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Native American Tribes Seek Pandemic-Related Relief

Several Native American tribes and nations have had difficulty obtaining insurance coverage after the COVID-19 pandemic forced them into closing resorts and casinos.

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Society Asks Judge To Toss Bad Faith Claims In Virus MDL

An Illinois federal judge has been asked by Society Insurance Co. to throw out all bad faith claims it’s currently facing in pandemic business-interruption multidistrict litigation, despite claims it issued a blanket coverage denial over COVID-19 losses.

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Insurance Trade Groups Ask 4th Circuit to Reject COVID Lawsuits

Two insurance company trade groups have weighed in on the debate over whether businesses are entitled to coverage following losses resulting from pandemic-related shutdown orders. The American Property Casualty Insurance Association and the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies asked the Fourth Circuit to reject a lawsuit filed by Skillets LLC, saying that none of the restaurant chain’s nine southwest Florida locations suffered any physical damage.

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CA Nightclub Asks 9th Circuit for COVID Coverage

Caribe Restaurant & Nightclub in Bonita, California, has told the Ninth Circuit that losses stemming from pandemic-related shutdown orders caused physical loss and damage, thus making it eligible for coverage under its insurance policy with Topa Insurance. Co.

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Colony Urges 4th Circ. to Deny Skillets in COVID Coverage Fight

Colony Insurance Co. has asked the Fourth Circuit not to revive the Skillets restaurant chain’s suit over losses suffered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The insurer claims that the eateries’ properties suffered no physical damage so the company was not denied coverage.

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Federal Judge Rules Against Dentist, Restaurants in Virus Coverage Suits

Two COVID-19 coverage suits were dismissed on Tuesday when a federal judge in Texas ruled that a Minnesota dentist and Texas restaurant group failed to show they had suffered physical damage due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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