A projector is turned off. According to the information of the Point, Axa has just sealed an agreement with the restaurateur Stéphane Manigold, who had captured the light and the attention of the media these past few weeks. Through a settlement, the insurance company has agreed to bear part of the loss of activity of the four parisian establishments of the middle-aged. This protocol transaction puts an end to the judicial proceedings.

Since the end of march, Manigold, converted recently to gastronomy, demanded, with loud noise, to the French company compensation for the loss of its activity, related to the containment to control the spread of the coronavirus. Like all of its colleagues, he had to lower the curtain on the 14th of march at midnight, taking account of government guidelines. Manigold was then turned to its insurer, contrasting it with his contract : he said that Axa would compensate its loss of activity. But the company did not as well. Faced with this refusal, the restorer had seized mid-April in the commercial court in summary proceedings to require the coverage of economic losses incurred to the smallest of its restaurants, the Bistro next to Flaubert. On 22 may, the justice had given him reason : Axa had therefore to pay him 45,000 euros, and the company to call. The history of this "little against big", the opening of the log 20 hours of TF1, France 2...

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Unemployment or no unemployment

Buffeted by the controversy, the company, advised by the prestigious law firm Gide, had tried to come to an agreement with stephen Manigold, without achieving this. Once the judge's decision made public, the insurer has stepped up its efforts to attract to the table of negotiation Stéphane Manigold. According to our information, Axa had proposed, in a first time, as well as all his colleagues with the same contract, 24% of its sales turnover excluding tax of four months – a little less than a month in total for all of its restaurants – or, according to our calculations, nearly 450 000 euros.

Stéphane Manigold would have refused, arguing that the rule adopted by the court of commerce was more profitable : to the Bistro next to Flaubert, he had thus obtained the equivalent of the amount of the gross margin that would have been achieved during the period of closure – two and a half months. He threatened, moreover, to re-enter the judges in paris, and this for his other three restaurants, including its flagship 2-star, La Maison Rostang in the 17th arrondissement of Paris. The turnover of all of its restaurants, amounting to approximately 5.5 million euros excluding taxes, it would have been, according to our estimates, expect to get about 700 000 euros of compensation for its four institutions, if the rule adopted by the court of commerce was beautiful and well applied. Small catch : this amount includes wages, except that the servers, cooks Manigold... pointed to the unemployment, supported by the Pôle emploi (and therefore by the taxpayers) ! A point which has not had to escape to the two parties...

"Ambiguity"

Of the contracts Axa as those held by Manigold, there would be about 1 700 in circulation that cover as many bars as restaurants or franchisees of large restaurant chains. Relating to those contracts, the number 1 of the company, Thomas Buberl, interviewed by RTL, spoke of" ambiguity ", because the pandemic, because of the magnitude of the risk, cannot be guaranteed, except in the case of "contracts poorly written" (according to insurers). The insurer has proposed to all of the holders of these contracts are "ambiguous" a conciliation. According to our information, they would already be very likely to be accepted. This agreement will he calm down the claims of restaurant owners against Axa ?

michelin-starred chef, Michel Sarran has launched a procedure against the insurer, but his contract would be different from that of Manigold ; in Beaujolais, a group of restaurateurs has also referred the matter to the justice. Axa is not the only insurance company hit by the blows of the chin of the profession, effective way to bring his fights to the public square. "According to my estimates, the contracts at issue including, one would need to pay between 1 and 1.3 billion euros in compensation for operating losses for restaurant owners. This is equivalent to 25-30 % of the losses of the profession as a whole. (...) ", we had been given a boss of insurance. Station sparks.

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