Trump Entertainment is bankrupt and looking to sell its last remaining casino in Atlantic City, but the company is still fighting insurance claims for Superstorm Sandy in 2012.
A complaint filed in Atlantic County Superior Court claims that the storm’s impact not only hurt visitation to thee two casinos, but damaged the property of many of the casino’s regular customers costing them “leisure time.”
The complaint also claims that closed roads and gasoline shortages following the October 2012, storm hampered travel, significantly diminishing the number of visitors to both the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort and the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino.
“Sandy not only caused widespread destruction to property and popular tourist attractions within Atlantic City,” the complaint filed Oct. 29 says. “Many of plaintiffs’ customers’ homes were [also] significantly damaged or even destroyed, thus not only depriving them of their leisure time to visit or return to the properties, but diminishing any discretionary income they may have had.”
Though the storm did hit Atlantic City, damage to casinos was minor. However, state gaming regulators did shut down all city casinos for five days and several major roads to the resort were closed prior to the storm.
According to Courthouse News Service, the insurers retained claims management company VeriClaim to help adjust the casinos’ insurance claims. In early 2013, VeriClaim found that the casinos had no right to claim loss of income under existing insurance policies due to a clause in the policies exempting the insurers from paying claims related to mandatory civil evacuations.
The insurers denied both the property damage and lost income portions of the casinos’ claims, arguing they fell under the policy’s weather catastrophe deductible, which is 3 percent of the total insured value at each location. The insurers estimated the deductibles at roughly $5.3 million for the Taj Mahal and $1.8 million for Trump Plaza, the news service reported.
Trump Entertainment argues that the insurers are ignoring the real damage.
“They refused to measure and consider any loss of income from the loss of customers caused by Superstorm Sandy, nor provide a reasonable basis for the denial of loss of income and extra expense,” the lawsuit states.
The Trump entities are seeking $10.3 million in damages on claims of breach of contract, breach of implied covenant of good faith, the news service reported.
