Colectivo Coffee Roasters and dozens of other businesses in Wisconsin are banding together to sue Society Insurance, an insurance provider in Fond du Lac, Wis., who denied their business interruption insurance claims.
“If you are a client of Society Insurance and your business is being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic you may be eligible for significant financial compensation,” says Jay Urban, attorney for Urban & Taylor, S.C. The firm, which is based in Milwaukee’s East Side, filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of Colectivo and all the local companies struggling due to the stay-at-home order but whose insurance claims are being denied. “Society Insurance, has been found denying business interruption claims that are covered in the plan. Society Insurance is obligated to cover your interrupted business,” reads the law firm’s website.
“The argument that they are trying to make is that they will go bankrupt if they have to pay everybody,” Urban states. “I would like to say, on behalf of my clients: The time that they need their insurance company is now, so it's sort of offensive when they say, ‘We can't pay every claim, so we'll not pay anything on any claim.’ They denied everything, they didn't pay even one penny, because they say that nobody in the restaurants actually got COVID-19. We say that it's irrelevant because restaurants were forced to close by order of the state.” While some insurance companies include language excluding coverage in case of a pandemic, this is not the case with Society Insurance. As such, they owe compensation to their clients as the kind of business interruption that we witness across the world is supposedly covered by the plans they offer.
“I have over 100 individual clients. The vast majority of them are against Society,” Urban reports. The attorney represents, in this class action lawsuit, local businesses in the hospitality industry, in particular restaurants and bars, that suffered from the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic and didn’t receive compensation from their insurance.
“In Wisconsin, the vast majority of all policies in the restaurant, bar and hospitality business are written by Society. It is the preferred company for the Wisconsin Restaurant Association, and it happens to be a Wisconsin company,” Urban explains. He also represents businesses who are facing the same hurdles with other insurance providers—such as the Pabst Theater, which is covered by the Cincinnati Insurance Company—but they aren’t conveniently located in our state. This is what puts Urban & Taylor in a perfect position to go after Society Insurance in particular.
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Wisconsin Businesses Should Act Quickly
“We have already filed to represent everybody—that’s the class action component—but we are also signing up individual cases. That’s the way to insure that your restaurant is being looked at individually instead of just as a case number,” Urban continues. He encourages business owners to look seriously into this, as the window of opportunity will close when the lawsuit comes to an end. “Settling a class action means ‘Speak now or forever hold your peace.’ When a class action settles, if you didn’t participate, then it’s all over.
“My firm is the first law firm in the state of Wisconsin to file a state class action lawsuit for all Society policy owners. The more cases I have, the better our chances of success,” he coninues. “There is a national class action pending, which was filed after mine. Society could get out of that if they handle the case in Wisconsin.”
For that reason, Urban and his partner encourage Wisconsin business owners who bought from Society Insurance to reach out to him, even if they aren’t certain they are entitled to compensation, as they can benefit from a free evaluation of their insurance coverage.
“There is no fee unless we win your case,” the law firm promises. “We are handling the cases on a contingency basis. We really believe in the case,” Urban adds.
As of press time, Society Insurance hadn’t replied to the lawsuit yet. Wisconsin business owners can learn more about their rights and reach out to Urban & Taylor, S.C. at wisconsininjury.com/business-interruption-insurance-lawsuit.
