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Law360 (April 30, 2021, 6:38 PM EDT) -- A Louisiana federal judge has tossed a dental office's proposed class action seeking pandemic loss-related coverage from Transportation Insurance Co., saying the practice failed to show that either COVID-19 or related government orders caused any property damage covered by its policy.
U.S. District Judge James David Cain Jr. granted summary judgment to TIC on Thursday, finding that Dr. Luke St. Pierre and his office, Luke St. Pierre DDS, could not demonstrate its property was harmed by the pandemic or that the practice ever lost access to its property due to civil authority closure orders.
The dentist and his office held a policy from TIC that provided business income loss and civil authority coverages. After St. Pierre was forced to suspend business due to government closure orders in March 2020, he filed an insurance claim. TIC denied the claim, asserting that Pierre's office incurred no physical damage, a precondition for coverage.
According to the suit, St. Pierre has alleged that it is "likely" that the coronavirus was present at its covered property, causing physical loss or damage to the property.
On Thursday, Judge Cain sided with TIC, saying that the dental office has failed to identify what property located within the dentistry was "lost" or "damaged" by the coronavirus. The dental office "does not allege that any insured property was damaged as required by the policy," the judge said.
Additionally, the practice is not entitled to civil authority coverage because the government shutdown orders issued in response to the COVID-19 pandemic never prohibited access to the property, the judge said.
"Dr. St. Pierre also admits that he was always authorized to use the insured property for emergency dental work," Judge Cain said, adding that the office also failed to allege the government order was issued due to any property damage on or near its property.
Judge Cain's ruling was the fifth Louisiana federal coronavirus decision on the merits and the third win for insurers. Two other rulings denied summary judgment motions brought by policyholders, according to data from the University of Pennsylvania's COVID Coverage Litigation Tracker.
On Monday, a Louisiana federal judge refused to toss a New Orleans restaurant's COVID-19 insurance coverage suit against State Farm, finding that although the eatery hasn't shown that its loss should be covered by the policy, it is permitted to fix the deficiencies in its complaint.
The judge agreed with State Farm that Muriel's has not sufficiently alleged direct physical loss to the covered property and that the policy's virus exclusion precludes the restaurant's claim for coverage.
Representatives for the parties could not be immediately reached for comment.
The dental office is represented by Joseph Frazier Gaar and Lucas Scott Colligan of Gaar Law Firm and Jacob Houston Hargett and Jason M. Welborn of Welborn & Hargett.
The insurer is represented by Virginia Y. Dodd, Heather Shawn Duplantis and Kevin William Welsh of Phelps Dunbar.
The case is Luke St. Pierre et al. v. Transportation Insurance Co., case number 6:20-cv-01660, in the U.S. District for the Western District of Louisiana.
--Editing by Orlando Lorenzo.
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