Auto Exclusion in CGL Policy Bars Coverage for Claims against Moving Company Executives Alleging They Failed to Maintain a Truck

A federal district court in Kansas has ruled that an auto exclusion in a commercial general liability (“CGL”) insurance policy excluded coverage for claims against a moving company’s executives alleging that they had failed to maintain a truck. 

The Case

An employee of a moving company was fatally injured while loading furniture and belongings into a truck owned by the moving company. The employee’s daughter sought payment under the CGL policy that had been issued to the moving company. The insurance carrier refused to pay, and the employee’s daughter sued the moving company’s president and general manager for negligence, alleging that they had failed to properly maintain the truck.

The insurer sought a declaratory judgment that the CGL policy did not provide liability coverage for the employee’s death and that it did not have a duty to defend or indemnify the moving company’s president and general manager. The insurer then moved for summary judgment.

The Court’s Decision

The court granted the insurer’s motion.

The court noted that there was no argument that the auto exclusion in the CGL policy was ambiguous. It then ruled that coverage for the employee’s bodily injury was precluded under the CGL policy because of the policy’s auto exclusion. The court rejected the defendants’ argument that summary judgment was not appropriate because additional discovery was necessary to determine how to deal with the claims in the underlying suit, finding that the defendants had failed to explain how additional discovery could make the auto exclusion inapplicable.

The case is Hanover Ins. Co. v. Jones, No. 12-2196-EFM (D. Kan. Oct. 28, 2013).