Class action lawsuit seeking coverage for business losses due to coronavirus shutdowns

Dino Palmieri Salon files a class action lawsuit against State Auto Insurance Company seeking coverage for business losses due to COVID-19 shutdowns

The beauty industry, hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting government-ordered shutdowns, has fired back by filing a class action lawsuit against Ohio-based State Auto Insurance Company. Dino Palmieri Salon, a well-known area beauty salon, is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit filed in Cuyahoga County seeking to hold State Auto responsible for business income losses covered under the salon’s insurance policy.

Dino Palmieri operates ten salons in the Cleveland area, and all have been ordered shut down as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. But when Palmieri sought help from his insurance company, he was shut down just as fast. State Auto refused to pay anything, following the lead of the entire insurance industry, which has turned a blind eye to its policyholders.

“Year after year we pay for business interruption insurance, but now, when we need the coverage, the insurance company says no. It’s infuriating,” says Palmieri.

The lawsuit is filed as a class action and seeks coverage for all of State Auto’s Ohio-based policyholders with policy language similar to that of Palmieri’s policy. This lawsuit follows on the heels of multiple similar class actions filed throughout the country and several similar lawsuits filed in Cuyahoga County on behalf of area restaurants and retailers impacted by coronavirus shutdowns.

Lawyers Bobby Rutter of Rutter & Russin, LLC and Nick DiCello of Spangenberg, Shibley & Liber, LLP filed the class action lawsuit. Attorneys at the two law firms have decades of experience litigating insurance coverage claims, and are working jointly with other firms in Pennsylvania and Illinois on COVID-19 insurance disputes in those states.

Learn more about how Rutter & Russin's attorneys are fighting COVID-19 business interruption insurance claim denials.