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Wrongful death claims at bar fails on assault exclusion (US)

07 August 2018

Two US district courts in two separate cases held in July 2018 that the insurers of public bars do not have a duty to defend or indemnify the insured owners of the bars for violent deaths of patrons because of the policy exclusion for bodily injury arising from an assault, battery or physical altercation.

Hiring a sexual offender who causes harm is an insured ‘accident’ (US)

30 July 2018

The California Supreme Court held that the negligent hiring, retention and supervision of an employee who sexually abused a 13-year old at a school where he was working was an ‘accident’ for the purposes of a general liability policy.

Carbon monoxide death liability claim fails on pollution exclusion (US)

25 July 2018

Two tenants of a second-floor unit in an apartment building (condominium) in Florida USA died in their bedroom, after inhaling carbon monoxide gas whilst asleep. The gas was believed to have come from a car in the unit’s garage. It seeped into the air-conditioning system of the unit and entered the bedroom through the system’s ducts or vents. The liability insurance claim failed because of a pollution exclusion in the policy.