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Old town in Düsseldorf: opening clause for new diseases
Photo: Fabian Strauch / dpa
According to a judgment, a Düsseldorf old town innkeeper is entitled to reimbursement of a corona-related loss of sales amounting to several hundred thousand euros from his insurance.
At the Düsseldorf regional court, judge Rainald Rambo agreed with the landlord on Friday (Ref .: 40 O 53/20).
The operator of several Düsseldorf bars and clubs had taken out business closure insurance years before the corona pandemic and had sued because Zurich Insurance refused to reimburse its lockdown costs of EUR 764,000.
The judgment is not yet final and can be appealed to the Higher Regional Court.
The argument of the insurance, with which other insurance companies had previously been successful: The insurance only covers the consequences of diseases that are mentioned in the Infection Protection Act.
Covid-19 did not exist when the contract was concluded and is therefore not one of the insured diseases.
The restaurateur had argued against it that his insurance policy contained an opening clause for new diseases.
And Covid-19 was already included in January 2020.
His claim arose only afterwards and was asserted by him.
The district court recently dismissed a similar lawsuit by a local innkeeper.
Because, according to the court, his insurance only covered diseases that existed years ago.
Covid-19 was not there.
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mik / dpa