Struggling restaurants push for legislation on insurance claims, delivery fees

Joshua M. Bowman, chair of the firm’s Hospitality Practice Group, was quoted in the Boston Globe on April 17, 2020. The article, “Struggling restaurants push for legislation on insurance claims, delivery fees,” examines the push from restauranteurs for policy changes at the state and local levels that they say will help them survive the social distancing measures that have halted their businesses. Josh discussed S.D. 2888, a bill entitled “An Act Concerning Business Interruption Insurance,” which he helped draft.

If enacted, the bill, filed by State Senator Jamie Eldridge, would provide revenue to retailers and owners of hotels and restaurants in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts through a mandate that requires insurers who have written insurance policies for business interruption insurance to pay policyholders who have had their businesses interrupted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read the full article at bostonglobe.com (subscriber content).

From the article:

“Josh Bowman, an attorney who helped to draft the Massachusetts bill, said insurance companies are uniquely positioned to pay out claims quickly.

… He said insurers are denying the claims ‘even while they have fewer casualties, slip and falls, and fires because the restaurants are closed.’”