The commercial court of Tarascon (Bouches-du-Rhône) condemned Monday Axa compensate a restorer of Alpilles for its operating losses due to the outbreak of Covid-19, saying " unwritten " the exclusion clause guarantee advanced by the insurer. This judgment, which could set a precedent, takes the opposite view from that of the Toulouse commercial court which, on August 18, in a similar case, had rejected the starred chef Michel Sarran, restaurateur in the pink city and member of the jury of Top Chef on M6.
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In this judgment, of which AFP obtained a copy via the restaurateur's lawyer, Me Jean-Pierre Tertian, the Tarascon commercial court considers " unwritten " the warranty exclusion clause included in the contract signed between Axa and the restaurant La Bergerie de Mouriès, in the Alpilles mountain range, near Aix-en-Provence, this being " neither formal nor limited ". Consequently, he condemns Axa to compensate the restaurateur up to 114,105 euros for his operating losses between March and May.
If the contract between Axa and the restaurant owner of Mouriès did provide for compensation for operating losses due to a closure " taken by a competent administrative authority ", a closure which would be " the consequence of an epidemic ", the insurer intended to bring into play the warranty exclusion clause included in the contract. This clause set aside the promised coverage in the event that the closure decision concerns " at least one other establishment (...) in the same departmental territory as that of the insured establishment ".
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It is therefore this clause which was rejected by the Tarascon commercial court, which considered that it “ would necessarily have the effect of emptying the guarantee owed by Axa of its substance ” in the event of an epidemic. " This is a significant step forward in the direction of coverage by insurers of losses suffered by traders during the period of confinement " in the face of Covid-19, said Me Tertian to AFP. Several restaurant customers of Axa have sued the insurer, accusing it of refusing to compensate their operating losses due to confinement. But until then, they had been rejected.
