Defending Your Policy
Children are both very susceptible to and sometimes actively engaged in bullying." It is every parent's nightmare to be on either end of the spectrum of bullying, but it is an everyday battle fought amongst young people in their day-to-day lives.
Case in point D.E. v. Unifund Assurance Company, where defendants are looking to their insurance company for coverage in a suit being filed against them, in which their daughter, along with two others, is accused of bullying, threatening and hitting the plaintiff.
They seek coverage for the perceived liability but the insurance company does not believe that they are covered since the acts committed were intentional.
First, we take a look at the key elements of coverage obtained by the applicants." In their policy, it states that they would be fully covered if they were to be held liable for any unintentional damages committed by their policy holders, anywhere in the world." The contract had certain exclusions as well." It specifically stated that it would not cover any damages arising from intentional criminal acts, or failure to act (such as physical and emotional abuse) by the insured and their family.
The applicants were accused of the following;
- inaction to investigate (during the time that their minor child was bullying the victim)
- inaction to enforce steps in an attempt to cease the bullying
- inaction to stop the bullying that they knew of
- inaction to enforce disciplinary repercussions against their minor
- failure to discharge their duty to discontinue the bullying attacks by their minor ward
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