New York’s top court heard an influential pandemic-related business interruption case on Wednesday, with the court reviewing whether the coronavirus accounted for a string of restaurants’ tangible physical loss, similar to a broken chair or fire-damaged warehouse.

Robin Cohen, chair of Cohen Ziffer Frenchman & McKenna, and the lead attorney for 55 restaurants under the umbrella of the Consolidated Restaurant Operations, argued before the New York Court of Appeals, saying it had to close many of the restaurants, albeit voluntarily, because the air and surfaces were dangerous.