AIG Property Casualty Co. v. Cosby

The First Circuit affirmed the judgment of the district court declaring that AIG Property Casualty Company had a duty to defend William H. Cosby, Jr.In 2014 and 2015, nine of the women who had, over the past decade, accused Cosby of sexual assault, filed three separate actions claiming that Cosby had defamed them by publicly denying their accusations. At the relevant times, Cosby held two insurance policies issued by AIG. Under each policy, AIG had a duty to defend lawsuits alleging defamation. AIG sought a declaration that the policies’ “sexual misconduct” exclusions barred coverage because the underlying defamation claims “arose out of” Cosby’s alleged sexual assaults. The district court granted judgment on the pleadings for Cosby, concluding that the sexual-misconduct exclusions were ambiguous. The First Circuit affirmed, holding that the “arising out of” language in the policies rendered the pertinent sexual-misconduct exclusions ambiguous as to the question in this case, requiring judgment for Cosby, the policyholder. View "AIG Property Casualty Co. v. Cosby" on Justia Law