Lawsuit Dismissed Seeking Pandemic Relief from Insurers for Ron Jaworski Golf Properties – Club + Resort Business

(Pictured: Ramblewood GC)

The lawsuit asserted that insurers improperly failed to pay more than $10 million in claims from the six clubs in New Jersey and Pennsylvania operated by the company headed by the former National Football League quarterback. But a Superior Court Judge sided with the insurers’ contention that the policyholders had not shown damage or losses needed to support the claims and that “virus exclusions” in some policies further blocked any demands for payment. “The mere presence” of the coronavirus “is insufficient to establish property damage,” Judge Steven Polansky ruled. citing rulings from similar cases across the country. “It is governmental orders which caused plaintiffs to be unable to fully utilize their property, not physical casualty to the property.”

A New Jersey state judge has dismissed a lawsuit that sought insurance payments for the pandemic’s costly impact on the six clubs operated by Ron Jaworski Golf, the Camden (N.J.) Courier Post reported.

The lawsuit asserted that insurers improperly failed to pay more than $10 million in claims from the clubs affiliated with the former National Football League quarterback, as well as about a dozen hospitality firms with other owners, the Courier Post reported.

The losses resulted from government shutdown orders intended to curb the spread of COVID-19 in 2020, the lawsuit claimed. But the insurers contended the policyholders had not shown damage or losses needed to support the claims, the Courier Post reported, and some said that “virus exclusions” additionally blocked demands for payment under their policies.

Superior Court Judge Steven Polansky in Camden sided with the insurers in a 20-page ruling, the Courier Post reported, finding that the lawsuit “fails to allege physical loss or damage to property which is a precondition to triggering coverage under the insurance policies at issue here.”

The decision also said the lawsuit “points to no language in the insurance policy or declarations which created any reasonable expectation of coverage for the claimed loss,” the Courier Post reported

Polansky’s ruling, which cited rulings in similar cases across the country, found “the mere presence” of the coronavirus “is insufficient to establish property damage,” the Courier Post reported

“It is governmental orders which caused plaintiffs to be unable to fully utilize their property, not physical casualty to the property,” the judge ruled.

A Jaworski property, Valleybrook Country Club in Gloucester Township, N.J. was the suit’s lead plaintiff, the Courier Post reported. An attorney for the club did not respond to a request for comment.

Other plaintiffs included the operators of four New Jersey properties operated by Jaworski Golf: Ramblewood Country Club in Mount Laurel; RiverWinds Golf and Tennis Club in West Deptford; Running Deer Golf Club in Elmer; and Blue Heron Pines Golf Club in Galloway. The suit was similarly filed on behalf of two Pennsylvania properties also operated by the company, Downingtown (Pa.) Country Club and Honey Run Golf Club in York, Pa.