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Home Court filings In re Society Insurance Co. COVID-19 Business Interruption Protection Insurance Litigation

Case docket

In re Society Insurance Co. COVID-19 Business Interruption Protection Insurance Litigation — N.D. Ill.

In re Society Insurance Co. COVID-19 Business Interruption Protection Insurance Litigation — N.D. Ill. — 34 documents in the archive, dated September 17, 2020 to July 30, 2025.

Shares documents with: In re: Society Insurance Company COVID-19 Business Interruption Protection Insurance Litigation — 7 public filings; 1 document appears on both pages.

Case facts

CourtU.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
Docket numbersNo. 1:20-cv-05965 — main docket · CourtListener docket 392081
No. 1:20-cv-05483 (no document in the archive is numbered on it) — other docket filed with this case
Filings34 public filings (5 documents also held as a second copy)
Filed2020-09-17 – 2025-07-30
Original PDFs23 of 34

Case summary

This multidistrict litigation addresses Society Insurance's denials of business-income interruption coverage for restaurants and other hospitality businesses whose operations were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation transferred the actions listed on its Schedule A to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on October 2, 2020, where they proceed as MDL No. 2964, Master Docket No. 20 C 5965, before Judge Edmond E. Chang and Magistrate Judge Jeffrey I. Cummings. Case Management Order No. 1, entered October 12, 2020, consolidated the assigned civil actions for pretrial purposes. The master consolidated amended complaints of April 2 and August 27, 2021 plead breach of contract and declaratory judgment on business income and extra expense coverage and bad faith denial of coverage for an Illinois class. On July 30, 2025 the court granted Society's motion to dismiss the cases.

Case at a glance

PartiesPlaintiff classes of policyholders, including the bellwether plaintiffs Big Onion Tavern Group, LLC, Valley Lodge Corp. and Rising Dough, Inc. doing business as Madison Sourdough; defendant Society Insurance
Court and docketU.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, MDL No. 2964, Master Docket No. 20 C 5965, Judge Edmond E. Chang and Magistrate Judge Jeffrey I. Cummings
ProgramNot named in the filings on this page. The claims are on business interruption insurance policies, not on a pandemic relief program
ClaimsCount I, breach of contract for business income coverage; count II, breach of contract for extra expense coverage; counts III and IV, declaratory judgment on each coverage; count V, bad faith denial of insurance coverage, asserted by an Illinois class
Disposition or statusSociety's motion to dismiss the cases was granted on July 30, 2025
Status checked2026-09-23 · against DOJ press releases through 2026-09-22; court docket not yet read

What does the master complaint allege?

That the plaintiffs' Society policies cover their losses related to the closure orders and the necessary interruption of their businesses stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, and that Society is liable for damages to be established at trial. These are the complaint's allegations.

What did the court decide?

It granted Society's motion to dismiss the cases on July 30, 2025, after decisions in other cases interpreting mostly identical business-income coverage provisions held almost uniformly that the key requirement for coverage, direct physical loss, requires some physical effect or alteration to the insured property and is not satisfied by the mere loss of the use of the premises.

How was the litigation structured?

Case Management Order No. 1 consolidated the civil actions assigned to MDL No. 2964 for pretrial purposes and applied to related and tag-along actions. The court then picked three bellwether cases, and Case Management Order No. 4 of January 11, 2021 set the two issues for oral argument on the bellwether motions, including whether "direct" in the policy's definition of direct physical loss implies a proximate-cause analysis.

Docket

34 documents in docket-entry order; attachments follow their entry. Gaps name the entries we do not have.

No. 1:20-cv-05965 — main docket

  1. JPML Transfer Order — In re Society Insurance COVID-19 MDLEntry 1
  2. —Entries 3–17 are not in the archive; entry 2 is listed under More documents below
  3. Case Management Order No. 1 — In re Society Insurance COVID-19 MDL (N.D. Ill.)Entry 18
  4. —Entries 19–21 are not in the archive
  5. Motion to Dismiss — Big Onion v. Society InsuranceEntry 22
  6. Exhibit C — State Court Hearing Transcript (It's Nice, Inc. v. State Farm Fire and Casualty)Entry 22, attachment 3
  7. —Entry 23 is not in the archive
  8. —Entry 24: main document not in the archive
  9. Plaintiffs' Memo in Opposition to Motion to Dismiss — The Whistler LLC et al. v. Society InsuranceEntry 24, attachment 1
  10. —Entries 26–27 are not in the archive; entry 25 is listed under More documents below
  11. Society's Reply in Support of Motion to Dismiss — Big Onion Tavern Group et al. v. Society InsuranceEntry 28
  12. Society's Rule 56.1 Response — Big Onion Tavern Group et al. v. Society InsuranceEntry 29
  13. —Entries 30–32 are not in the archive
  14. Society's Reply in Support of Motion to Dismiss — 351 Kingsbury Corner LLC v. Society InsuranceEntry 33
  15. —Entries 34–81 are not in the archive
  16. Plaintiffs' Omnibus Response to Supplemental Authority — In re Society Insurance COVID-19 MDLEntry 82
  17. Exhibit A — Society's Opposition to JPML Transfer (JPML MDL Docket No. 2942)Entry 82, attachment 1
  18. —Entries 83–115 are not in the archive
  19. Case Management Order No. 4 — In re Society Insurance COVID-19 MDL (N.D. Ill.)Entry 116
  20. —Entries 117–123 are not in the archive
  21. —Entry 124: main document not in the archive
  22. Notice of Supplemental Authority — Colectivo Coffee Roasters v. Society Insurance (MDL 2964)Entry 124, attachment 1
  23. —Entries 125–130 are not in the archive
  24. Bellwether Memorandum Opinion and Order — In re Society Insurance COVID-19 MDLEntry 131
  25. —Entries 132–152 are not in the archive
  26. —Entry 153: main document not in the archive
  27. Master Consolidated Amended Complaint — In re Society Insurance COVID-19 MDLEntry 153, attachment 1
  28. —Entries 154–193 are not in the archive
  29. Opinion Denying § 1292(b) Certification — In re Society Insurance COVID-19 MDLEntry 194
  30. —Entries 195–228 are not in the archive
  31. Opinion on MCAC and Civil Authority MTD — In re Society Insurance COVID-19 MDLEntry 229
  32. —Entries 230–239 are not in the archive
  33. Society's Opposition to Limited Fund Class Certification — In re Society Insurance COVID-19 MDLEntry 240
  34. —Entries 241–253 are not in the archive
  35. Amicus Reply Brief — APCIA & NAMIC (Class Certification, In re Society Insurance COVID-19 MDL)Entry 254
  36. —Entries 255–257 are not in the archive
  37. Class Plaintiffs' Reply in Support of Limited Fund Class Certification — Society Insurance COVID-19 MDLEntry 258
  38. —Entries 259–261 are not in the archive
  39. Second Master Consolidated Amended Complaint — In re Society Insurance COVID-19 MDLEntry 262
  40. Society's Opposition to Enjoin State Court Proceedings — In re Society Insurance COVID-19 MDLEntry 263
  41. —Entries 264–397 are not in the archive
  42. Memorandum Opinion and Order — In re Society Insurance COVID-19 MDL (Doc. 398)Entry 398 · also: (identical file)

Documents without an entry number

  1. Complaint (Exhibit 1) — Twenty Two Ten Ltd. et al. v. Society Insurance
  2. undatedAmended Complaint — Big Onion Tavern Group v. Society Insurance
  3. undatedBellwether Opinion and Order — In re Society Insurance COVID-19 BI Litigation
  4. undatedComplaint — Rising Dough v. Society Insurance
  5. undatedCorporate Disclosure Statement — In re Society Insurance COVID-19 BI Litigation
  6. undatedJPML Transfer Order — In re Society Insurance COVID-19 BI Litigation
  7. undatedMaster Consolidated Complaint (Initial) — In re Society Insurance COVID-19 BI Litigation
  8. undatedMotion for Limited Fund Class Certification — In re Society Insurance COVID-19 BI Litigation
  9. undatedOmnibus Opposition to Motion to Dismiss — In re Society Insurance COVID-19 BI Litigation
  10. undatedOmnibus Reply in Support of Motion to Dismiss — In re Society Insurance COVID-19 BI Litigation
  11. undatedOrder Appointing Plaintiffs' Leadership — In re Society Insurance COVID-19 BI Litigation
  12. undatedProposed Master Consolidated Amended Complaint (Draft) — In re Society Insurance COVID-19 BI Litigation

More documents from this case’s dockets

2 more documents linked to this case’s dockets are in the archive and not in the docket above.

  1. undatedOrder of the Executive Committee — United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois (Case 1:20-cv-05965)Source document
  2. undatedUnited States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois — Case 1:20-cv-05965, Document 25Source document

Court, dates and docket numbers are as recorded on the filings.

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