Insurer’s Coronavirus Suit Is ‘Classic Example’ Of Proper Abstention, Judge Says

Mealey's (November 5, 2020, 1:49 PM EST) -- CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois on Nov. 3 dismissed a commercial property insurer’s lawsuit seeking a declaration that it has no duty to provide business interruption coverage for 31 restaurant insureds’ alleged losses arising from public health orders that restricted public gatherings in an effort to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, noting that allowing the insurer’s case to proceed “would ‘be indulging in gratuitous interference’” with the insureds’ competing Ohio state lawsuit (State Auto Property and Casualty Insurance Co.  v. Classic Dining Group LLC, et al., No. 20-04434, N.D. Ill.)....