US Fidelity & Guarnt v. Omnibank

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
• Decided: June 6, 2002
• Docket: 99-60349
• Status: Published

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT

No. 99-60349

GEORGIA RAMSAY, ET AL., Plaintiffs,

versus

OMNIBANK, ET AL., Defendants.

OMNIBANK, Defendant - Third Party Plaintiff - Appellee,

UNITED STATES FIDELITY AND GUARANTY CO., Third Party Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court For the Southern District of Mississippi

June 6, 2002

Before REYNALDO G. GARZA, HIGGINBOTHAM, and BENAVIDES, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM:

In this case we certified a question to the Supreme Court of

Mississippi, asking:

Whether an insurer’s duty to defend under a general commercial liability policy for injuries caused by accidents extends, under Mississippi law, to injuries unintended by the insured but which resulted from intentional actions of the insured if those actions were negligent but not intentionally tortious.1

The details of the case are set out both in our certification2 and

the Mississippi Supreme Court’s answer.3 Since it is now clear

that, under Mississippi law, United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co.

had no duty to defend Omnibank from the underlying suit,4 we must

REVERSE and REMAND for entry of summary judgment in favor of USF&G.

REVERSED and REMANDED.

1 Ramsay v. Omnibank, 215 F.3d 502, 504 (5th Cir. 2000). 2 Id. at 502-03. 3 United States Fidelity & Guar. Co. v. Omnibank, 812 So.2d 196, 197-98 (Miss. 2002). 4 Id. at 202.