According to their website, “Knightsbridge Restaurant Group has continued to bring new and innovative dining experiences to Washington DC for the last 30 years. Ashok Bajaj founded Knightsbridge Restaurant Group in 1989 when he launched its first restaurant, The Bombay Club, to provide the city with an international restaurant featuring gourmet regional Indian cuisine. Since then, he has opened 10 more restaurants featuring modern Indian, modern American, Italian, and Israeli cuisine.”
When Covid-19 lockdowns took a toll on the Knightsbridge Restaurant Group this year, Bajaj sought compensation from his insurance provider. When that provider balked at paying out on a calamity that it couldn’t possibly have foreseen, on a policy that arguably did not cover such an unpredictable situation, the DC restaurateur filed suit against the carrier – not in the nation’s capital where his businesses are located, but in St. Clair County, Illinois!
Why St. Clair County? Because, according to the suit, Zurich American Insurance is headquartered in Schaumburg, northwest of Chicago, and has operations in St. Clair.
Never mind that Washington is where the damages were suffered, or that Bajaj himself concedes that DC would be the most convenient forum. Never mind, also, that the most logical target for a lawsuit seeking compensation for those damages would be the government that imposed the lockdown. Bajaj wants to sue in St. Clair County. Hmm.
Zurich removed the suit to U.S. district court early in November and subsequently filed a motion for transfer to the District of Columbia. Knightsbridge recently moved to have the case remanded to St. Clair County and opposes transfer to DC.
“Forum shopping can be grounds for sanctions,” Zurich’s counsel argues, noting that St. Clair County “has a reputation for being plaintiff friendly and where meritless claims are allowed to survive.”
It seems clear that Bajaj is attempting to press his claims in the wrong forum. Now, if he’d like to open some restaurants in this forum, we’d support that. St. Clair could use some “new and innovative dining experiences.”