FSM obtains declaration from U.S. District Court that CGL policy affords no coverage to co-employee

FSM obtained a declaratory judgment in Colony Nat. Ins. Co. v. Cunningham, et al., Case No. 4:10-cv-00199, filed in the United States District Court, Eastern District of Missouri. This declaratory judgment action arose out of an incident that occurred in October 2006 where an employee at a manufacturing plant caused a co-employee who was repairing a stamp press to suffer amputation of a portion of his right hand. The injured party obtained a $950,000 judgment against the co-employee who caused the injury. The purpose of the declaratory judgment was to determine whether a commercial general liability policy issued to the employer of both employees (the injured employee and the employee who caused the injuries) afforded coverage for the $950,000 judgment. The Court found no coverage, stating that an employee who injures a co-employee while acting in the course of his or her employment is not an insured under a commercial general liability policy. As a result, the employee who caused the injury did not qualify as an insured under the policy, and the policy afforded no coverage for the $950,000 judgment.