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No Coverage for Theft by Persons Entrusted  

When the plaintiff turned her restaurant over to two restaurateurs when  she became ill they took out of the restaurant and converted it to their  possession. The restaurateurs  claimed they purchased the equipment  from plaintiff and she claimed they took advantage of her illness and  stole the property.   In Tomazina Johnson, d/b/a Zing Zing\'s Wings & More, LLC v. State  Farm Fire & Casualty Company, No. 2:20-cv-02912-cgc, United States  District Court, W.D. Tennessee, Western Division (November 23, 2022) the  USDC resolved the dispute by reading the full policy and applying its  language to the facts established by State Farm\'s motion.  

INTRODUCTION 

Plaintiff\'s Circuit Court Complaint alleged two claims: breach of  contract and bad-faith refusal to pay an insurance claim pursuant to  Tennessee Code Section 56-7-

Plaintiff argued that the Policy provides coverage for accidental  physical loss of business personal property and that she has met her  initial burden of establishing that an accidental, direct loss during  the Policy period.  THE INSURANCE POLICY  State Farm issued a businessowner\'s insurance policy that was in full  force and effect insuring Plaintiff\'s restaurant business, Zing Zing\'s  Wings & More, LLC (\\u201cZing Zing\'s\\u201d). The Policy provides that State  Farm insures for the \\u201caccidental direct physical loss to Covered  Property.\\u201d However, \\u201cSection I - EXCLUSIONS\\u201d and the \\u201cProperty Subject  to Limitations\\u201d provisions limited the coverages available to the  Plaintiff. The policy contained the following exclusion:  Evidence of Events Relevant to Plaintiff\'s Claims  Plaintiff opened her restaurant Zing Zing\'s. Its grand opening took  place in February of 2019. However, while Plaintiff was operating the  restaurant, it was operating at a loss.  On the advice of counsel Plaintiff dealt with two individuals-Curtis  Braden (\\u201cBraden\\u201d) and Rayford Burns (\\u201cBurns\\u201d)- who were to take over  Zing Zing\'s while she was ill.