EAST ST. LOUIS – Washington lawyers for ten fancy D.C restaurants sued Zurich American Insurance for lockdown losses in St. Clair County, Illinois.
Jurisdiction over coverage claims of Knightsbridge Restaurant Group and owner Ashok Bajaj remained up in the air as of Dec. 6.
Zurich removed the suit to U.S. district court on Nov. 3, and moved for transfer to the District of Columbia on Nov. 20.
Knightsbridge moved to remand it to St. Clair County on Nov. 25, and opposed transfer on Dec. 4.
Joseph Bartholomew of Bruce Cook’s firm filed the suit in October at the county courthouse across the street from his office.
Six lawyers at Cohen Millstein in Washington attached their names.
The complaint filled six pages with awards and rosy reviews for the restaurants, and it dropped names of celebrity diners.
It states that Knightsbridge formerly employed about 500 people at nine locations and currently employed about 250 people at seven locations.
“Knightsbridge believed that it had purchased comprehensive coverage that would apply to business interruption under circumstances like this, where plaintiff has done everything right to protect its businesses and the public,” the complaint states.
Bajaj “is not a risk assessment professional aware of every possible catastrophe that might occur.”
It further states that Zurich has been aware of potential for this type of pandemic “for at least a decade, if not longer.”
Restaurants have laid off or furloughed about eight million workers since March and lost $148 billion in sales through August, it states.
More than 26,000 restaurants in Yelp’s database closed as of July 10, “and 15,770 will not be reopening,” it states.
The lawsuit asserts Illinois jurisdiction because Zurich maintains headquarters in Schaumburg, and St. Clair County jurisdiction because Zurich operates there.
Zurich’s removal notice asserts diverse citizenship between Zurich and Knightsbridge’s ownership entities.
Zurich’s transfer motion states that Knightsbridge sued in a venue with no connection to its restaurants, their alleged losses, witnesses or evidence.
Zurich counsel Jared Clapper of Chicago wrote that each restaurant is less than five miles from the District of Columbia courthouse.
He wrote that Knightsbridge’s address is half a mile from district court.
The office of Knightsbridge counsel Cohen Millstein is in the same building as Bibiana, one of Bajaj’s restaurants.
Clapper wrote that the complaint listed six Cohen Millstein attorneys, “the size of the entire Cook law firm.”
“Forum shopping can be grounds for sanctions,” Clapper wrote.
St. Clair County “has a reputation for being plaintiff friendly and where meritless claims are allowed to survive,” he wrote.
Bartholomew’s remand motion states that the action asserted declaratory judgment, breach of contract, and breach of good faith.
“All three are state, not federal, causes of action,” Bartholomew wrote.
His brief opposing transfer stated, “Though plaintiffs are located in the District of Columbia and could conveniently litigate there, plaintiffs are willing to accept the costs of litigating in their chosen forum are entitled to deference when analyzing that choice.”
Cohen Millstein lawyers Andrew Friedman, Victoria Nugent, Geoffrey Garber, Julie Selesnick, Katrina Puttieva, and Paul Stephan represent Knightsbridge.
They hadn’t entered appearance as of Dec. 6.
Magistrate Judge Gilbert Sison presides.