Justice on Wednesday condemned the insurer Axa to compensate a Marseille restaurant owner for his losses linked to the Covid.
A decision that gives hope to Jean-Michel Alazard, also on trial against the company.
At the microphone of Europe 1, he recalls that a possible compensation would compensate for the shortfall of the days of closure.
It is a ray of hope for restaurateurs and a decision that could set a precedent.
The Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal on Wednesday condemned the insurer Axa to compensate a Marseille restaurateur for his losses linked to the coronavirus.
Several similar cases are awaiting judgment in France, but this is the first time that justice has decided on the merits.
A decision which gives a lot of hope to Jean-Michel Alazard, restaurateur in the Alpilles, who is also suing Axa to be compensated for his losses linked to the pandemic.
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"We drive the point home and the courts follow us"
"The goal of the maneuver was for it to snowball and everyone to be able to save themselves. We drive the point home and the courts follow us. The movement is launched, I am happy for myself and for my colleagues" , he comments at the microphone of Europe 1.
Because with this decision of the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal, it is the entire defense of insurers that collapses, since it has rejected all of Axa's arguments, including the famous epidemic clause.
The insurer has always argued that the mention "epidemic" in certain contracts only refers to bacterial type infections, such as salmonellosis, which affects only one establishment.
But the court of appeal ruled that the clause had only to be more specific and that the vagueness must be interpreted in favor of restaurateurs.
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"These compensations would allow us to survive"
Another argument ruled inadmissible by justice: the assertion that large insurance companies can not compensate everyone.
On the contrary, justice claims that the presence of the epidemic clause on a contract commits Axa with the establishment that signed it, independently of the others.
There are therefore thousands of restaurateurs who could rush into the fault and claim compensation.
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Money that "would compensate for the shortfall of each day of closure", specifies at the microphone of Europe 1 Jean-Michel Alazard, whose hearing against Axa is scheduled for March 18.
"These compensations would allow us to survive, because otherwise we are all in the red: we pay our loans, our salaries ... We are in daily stress, we are gnawing at not knowing when we can reopen."
And in this context, the "only hope is to win against Axa who lies to us, who does not want to pay us, who does not want to assume his role of insurer, quite simply."