Ohio law firms represent local restaurants and retailer: Marble Room, Lockkeepers, Il Venetian, and J3 Clothing Company file Ohio's first coronavirus insurance coverage lawsuits

CLEVELAND, April 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Some of Cleveland's finest restaurants, Marble Room, Lockkeepers, and Il Venetian, along with J3 Clothing Company, a popular men's fashion retailer in Moreland Hills, have filed Ohio's first lawsuits seeking insurance coverage for business interruption losses resulting from the coronavirus pandemic and the government-ordered shutdowns.

Following the lead of other restaurants, such as The French Laundry owned by Thomas Keller, the Cleveland restaurants filed their lawsuit against Cincinnati Insurance Company in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.  The case is assigned to Judge Cassandra Collier-Williams. The suit seeks a declaratory judgment that insurance coverage for business interruption losses sustained due to the ongoing pandemic is justified.

J3 Clothing Company filed its lawsuit against the Lightning Rod Mutual Insurance Company, part of the Western Reserve Group, also in Cuyahoga County, where it is assigned to Judge Nancy Fuerst.  Like the restaurants, J3 seeks lost business income and extra expenses incurred as it has been forced to shutter its newly expanded location on the East Side.

J3 is a preeminent men's fashion and accessories retailer with onsite tailoring.  Jack Madda and his partners enjoy a loyal customer base and are confident their customers will return.  "Many of our customers are people we have known and serviced for 20 years or longer and we recently expanded the store to serve a growing customer base.  Our customers will be back," says Madda.  In the meantime, however, Madda says J3, like so many other retail businesses, "needs the business interruption coverage we paid for."

The businesses are represented by the Cleveland law firms of Rutter & Russin, LLC and Spangenberg, Shibley & Liber, LLP, who believe that insurance coverage exists for exactly the type of situation businesses are facing.  "The hospitality and retail industries collectively employ over 45 million people and represent decades of work by owners and operators who have consistently paid insurance company premiums so that if and when disaster struck, they and their employees would be taken care of. For insurance companies to turn their backs now is wrong," said Rutter and DiCello.

The partnership between the firms will provide businesses like Marble Room, Il Venetian, Lockkeepers, and J3 decades of litigation and insurance coverage experience. Bob Rutter is credited with establishing the standard for insurance company bad faith law in Ohio, while Spangenberg has been litigating and achieving results against the insurance industry for more than 75 years in Cleveland and throughout the country.

If your business has been negatively affected by the pandemic, please call Nick DiCello at 877-976-7829 or email him at [email protected].

SOURCE Spangenberg Shibley & Liber LLP

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