He is one of the most famous starred chefs in France. At the head of the Toulouse restaurant that bears his name, Michel Sarran, member of the jury for the “Top Chef” program on M6, has been fighting for a year against his insurer, Axa, to be compensated for part of the losses caused by the health crisis due to Covid-19. “They tried to negotiate with me, he says, and the amounts depend on your notoriety: I was offered much more than a friend also two Michelin stars, but less media. “
The Toulouse chef refused the transaction: “I couldn’t accept. I want Axa to recognize that their contract provided for the coverage of operating losses. I am also fighting for the profession, for the little ones who have not been offered anything. “ Michel Sarran sued his insurer. He claims more than 400,000 euros for the losses caused by the first confinement, which began in March 2020. Unsuccessful by the Toulouse commercial court, he appealed, and awaits a decision by the end of May.
This conflict between restaurateurs and their insurer has taken on an unusual dimension since the start of the Covid-19 crisis. Axa, the most exposed company, identifies “A few hundred procedures” brought against her, according to her lawyer, Mr.e Pascal Ormen. The institution insures 15% of restaurateurs in France, and among them the biggest restaurants as well as chains like those of the Flo group.
If Axa concentrates the vast majority of summonses, it is also because of one of its contracts, taken out by more than 15,000 professionals, and the interpretation of which now divides the courts. So much so that, over the past year, one third of the commercial courts have ruled in favor of the insurer, the other two thirds in favor of its clients.
Axa’s “strategic error”
The balance has tilted a little more in the side of restaurateurs since, in Marseille, lawyer Jean-Pierre Tertian, forty years at the bar, won, on February 25, a weighty victory against the leading French insurance group. The first judgment on the merits rendered by an appeal court, that of Aix-en-Provence, ruled in favor of its client, the restaurant L’Espigoulier, located in the Old Port of Marseille. “It is the only court of appeal to have ruled. This is a very favorable indicator for the future, it shows a trend ”, wants to believe Me Tertian.
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