Admiral Insurance v. G4S Youth Services

634 F. Supp. 2d 605, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 48299, 2009 WL 1617952
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Virginia
DecidedJune 9, 2009
Docket1:07-cv-00656
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 634 F. Supp. 2d 605 (Admiral Insurance v. G4S Youth Services) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Admiral Insurance v. G4S Youth Services, 634 F. Supp. 2d 605, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 48299, 2009 WL 1617952 (E.D. Va. 2009).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

JAMES R. SPENCER, Chief Judge.

THIS MATTER is before the Court the parties’s Cross-Motions for Summary Judgment (Doc. Nos. 27 and 29). For the reasons below, this Court DENIES Plaintiffs Motion and GRANTS Defendant’s Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment.

I. BACKGROUND

On October 23, 2007, Plaintiff, Admiral Insurance Company (“Admiral Insurance” or “Admiral”), brought the entitled matter seeking a determination of their obligation to defend and indemnify G4S Youth Services, LLC (“G4S”) in the case of Mary Harris as Personal Representative for the Estate of Shanique Harris, et al. v. G4S Youth Services, LLC, Case No. 2007 CA-329 (“the Underlying Case”), which arises out of the July 14, 2006 shooting death of Shanique Harris. The Underlying Case is currently pending in the Circuit Court of the 19th Judicial Circuit in Okeechobee County, Florida. Though presented in separate Motions, the parties merely argue different sides of the same issue, namely, whether Harris’s death on G4S’s premises “arises out of and is in the course of’ her employment with G4S, thereby excluding the incident from coverage under the parties’s insurance policy, and divesting Admiral Insurance of their duty to indemnify and defend G4S in the underlying Florida state case. In its determination, the Court reviewed the applicable insurance policy, facts surrounding Harris’s death, and Complaint in the Underlying Case.

Insurance Policy

G4S, headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, works in conjunction with the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (“Florida DJJ”) to operate several juvenile correctional facilities in Florida, including the Okeechobee Juvenile Offender Corrections Center (“OJOCC”) in Okeechobee, Florida. On April 19, 2005, G4S hired Marsh USA Inc. (“Marsh”), an insurance broker, to help the company obtain a commercial general liability insurance policy covering eight (8) properties, including the OJOCC. Through Marsh, G4S obtained insurance from Admiral Insurance Company for the August 1, 2005 to October 1, 2006 policy period. Per the parties’s contract, Marsh accepted delivery of the policy in Atlanta, Georgia. The policy listed Florida DJJ as an additional insured organization, but only as to the DJJ’s Florida locations.

As with similar general liability insurance policies, the Admiral Insurance policy covered G4S for “bodily injury and property damage caused by an occurrence under the policy that takes place in the coverage territory”, subject to policy exclusions and liability limits. (Comm. Gen. Liability Policy, Form CG 00 01 12 04 (hereinafter “Policy Coverage Form”) ¶ l(a)-(b).) In the present matter, the parties disagree as to the meaning and purpose of the “Employer’s Liability” exclusion. 1 This provision excludes:

Employer’s Liability Exclusion
“Bodily Injury” to (1) an “employee” of the insured arising out of and in the course of (a) [ejmployment by the insured; or (b) [performing duties related to the conduct of the insured’s busi *608 ness.... This exclusion applies: (1) [w]hether the insured may be liable as an employer or in any other capacity; and (2) [t]o any obligation to share damages with or repay someone else who must pay damages because of the injury. This exclusion does not apply to liability assumed by the insured under an insured contract. {Id. ¶¶ 2(d)-(e).)

Further, the policy requires Admiral Insurance to defend G4S for damages occurred under the policy. Specifically, the policy states Admiral Insurance:

[Wjill have the right and duty to defend the insured against any “suit” seeking [damages the insured is legally obligated to pay because of “bodily injury”]. However, we will have no duty to defend the insured against any “suit” seeking damages for “bodily injury” or “property damage” to which this insurance does not apply. We may, at our discretion, investigate any “occurrence” and settle any claim or “suit” that may result. {Id. ¶ 1(a).)

On July 14, 2006, this policy, with its exclusions and duty to defend, was in effect.

July 14, 2006 Killing of Shanique Harris

Marlon “Pete” Brown and Shanique “Quan” Harris began dating in 2001. As time progressed, the relationship became violent. On January 31, 2006, Harris obtained an Injunction for Protection Against Dating Violence, which, among other things, prohibited Brown from having any contact with Harris. This injunction eovered a period of approximately three weeks. At some time prior to July 14, 2006, Harris decided she wanted to end her relationship with Brown. Brown, apparently, did not want the relationship to end. On the evening of July 14, 2006, Brown, attempting to reconcile with Harris, purchased a greeting card and drove to Harris’s job. Brown knew Harris was an employee of the OJOCC, and that she was scheduled to work the 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. shift that evening. When Brown arrived at the OJOCC, he did not see Harris’s car. The facility’s cameras captured Brown driving around the OJOCC parking lot, and upon seeing his vehicle, G4S employees called the sheriffs department. Shortly after leaving the lot, Brown saw Harris in her car and returned to the parking lot.

After returning to the lot and approaching Harris, Harris and Brown engaged in conversation. Harris was seen slapping an item out of Brown’s hand, purportedly the greeting card and an engagement ring Brown had previously purchased. Shortly thereafter, at approximately 10:30 p.m., Brown pulled out a gun and shot Harris in the head, right breast, and left buttock. Harris died of her wounds. At the time of the shooting, Harris was late for work and had not entered the building. 2

Stemming from the July 14, 2006 shooting, a claim for workers’s compensation was filed on Shanique Harris’s behalf. A “First Report of Injury or Illness” was filed with the Florida Department of Fi *609 nancial Services’s Division of Workers Compensation on or about July 17, 2006. These benefits were denied in a July 21, 2006 letter. According to the letter, workers’s compensation benefits were denied because investigation determined “the employee did not sustain an injury by accident which arose out of or in the course and scope of employment. There is no causal connection between the injury and death of the employee and her activities of employment ... [and further,] [t]he cause of her injury and death was personal in nature.” (Harris’s Notice of Denial 2.) Mary Harris, the deceased’s mother, then filed a civil complaint in Florida state court.

The Underlying Florida Case

On September 14, 2007, Mary Harris filed a Complaint against G4S in Florida’s Circuit Court seeking damages for the alleged wrongful death of Shanique Harris. In response to the Complaint, G4S requested Admiral Insurance defend and indemnify the company against the alleged liability. The original Complaint alleged Shanique Harris was a business invitee of the OJOCC and, as such, was owed a duty by G4S to use reasonable care under the circumstances. (Compl.

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634 F. Supp. 2d 605, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 48299, 2009 WL 1617952, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/admiral-insurance-v-g4s-youth-services-vaed-2009.