Another Planet Entertainment, LLC v. Vigilant Insurance Company

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

ANOTHER PLANET ENTERTAINMENT, Case No. 20-cv-07476-VC

LLC,

Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO

DISMISS

v. Re: Dkt. No.

VIGILANT INSURANCE COMPANY,

Defendant.

Vigilant’s motion to dismiss is granted. Another Planet alleges that its auditoriums shut down because the coronavirus was physically present on surfaces in those facilities, and that the shutdowns were therefore the result of “direct physical loss or damage” at the facilities within the meaning of its insurance policy. It is difficult to understand how Another Planet can allege with a straight face that the virus was actually present on its facilities’ surfaces at the time of the shutdowns. That seems unknowable. But in any event, the complaint must be dismissed for a more basic reason: Another Planet’s facilities did not shut down because of the virus’s presence on facility surfaces. Rather, those facilities shut in response to the closure orders, which would have required them to remain closed even if Another Planet could have proven to a certainty that the virus was not present at its facilities. This is obvious both from the…