Cozmic Coffee, a favorite cart of coffee lovers in Southeast Portland, may be forced to shut down permanently after the cart was hit by a vehicle earlier this month.
The cart, located near 82nd and Foster, was completely knocked off its foundation when a car ran into it on August 6, said owner Don Miller, who has run the cart for more than two years. Miller says the cart is totaled.
Miller said he thought the insurance he’d been paying every month would cover the damage. But when he went to make a claim, he says the company denied it.
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It’s a miracle that no one was hurt when the car crashed into the cart, Miller said. The barista who normally would have been working at the cart was gone because Miller let her close up shop an hour early that day.
Miller says he thought he did everything right when it came to insurance. He said he doesn’t know how to handle what he was told by the insurance company.
“Apparently it’s a vehicle, even though it never moves,” he said. “To my knowledge, under Oregon food cart law, it’s considered property when it’s sitting still at rest. [But my insurance] considers it to be a vehicle and to the best of my knowledge is going to pay me zero on my $38,000 insurance policy.”
Miller said he hasn’t started a crowdfunding campaign because he said he feels bad asking anyone for money. But he said there’s no way he can pay for the damage himself.
KGW contacted Miller’s insurance agent and is waiting to hear back.