Michael F. Schmidt And Nathan Peplinski Obtain Declaratory Judgment In U. S. District Court Coverage Case

Liberty Insurance Corporation v Glenn Bowles and Kyle Valentine, U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Case Number 13—13784. We filed a complaint for declaratory judgment that Liberty Insurance Company did not owe coverage or a defense to its insured for allegations made against him in a pending Macomb County Circuit Court case. The defendant/insured filed a motion to dismiss arguing that the U. S. District Court should dismiss the case so it could be decided in Macomb County Circuit Court. We responded with a motion for judgment on the pleadings that there was no duty to provide coverage or a defense. The court heard oral argument and then ordered that additional briefs be filed. The court then issued an eight page written opinion agreeing with all of our arguments that there was no duty to defend or provide coverage, that the facts alleged in the underlying complaint alleged an assault which was not an “occurrence”, that the self-defense exception to the intentional act exclusion was not supported by the facts, that there was no self-defense exception to the policy’s sexual molestation, corporal punishment or physical or mental abuse exclusion and that the self-defense exception to the intentional act exclusion was irrelevant to the determination that there was no “occurrence”. The court granted our motion and entered judgment that Liberty Insurance Corporation had no duty to defend or provide coverage to its insured in the underlying action.