The insurer for a security firm for a Rhode Island nightclub where shootings and stabbings took place on October 17, 2021 is asking a court to declare it has no duty to defend the security firm.
Persons injured in the violent melee at the Revel Lounge are seeking compensation for their injuries from Nightlife Security Co. and that firm’s principal, Ohara Rivera. Five club patrons have asserted that they suffered personal injuries as a result of Nightlife Security allowing someone with a firearm and knife into the club that was equipped with a metal detector. The patrons claim various injuries from being shot, stabbed and trampled.
The club’s insurer, Texas-based State National, claims it has no duty to defend or indemnify Rivera or Nightlife Security for any damages to Jasmine Washington, Junior Joseph, Parker Yan, Tammy Le, Dwight Knight, or the club’s owner under the commercial general liability policy it issued policy because the policy excludes coverage for bodily injury arising out of an assault and battery.
State National is asking the U.S. District Court for Rhode Island to issue a declaration that Rivera and/or Nightlife Security are not entitled to insurance coverage and thus State National does not have a duty to defend or indemnify them.
The CGL policy excludes bodily injury or property damage arising from, or caused in whole or in part by, an assault and battery. The exclusion applies regardless of the degree of culpability or intent of the insured and no matter who instigates the assault.
The case is State National Insurance Company v. Ohara Rivera, Nightlife Security Company.
Topics Carriers
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