Business & Insurance Litigation Newsletter for Indiana

Assault & Battery Exclusion Precludes Coverage for Negligent Hiring and Supervision

In Smock v. American Equity Ins. Co., 748 N.E.2d 432 (Ind. Ct. App. 2001), the Court addressed whether an assault and battery exclusion in a commercial general liability policy barred coverage for claims that owners of a club were negligent in hiring, supervising, and training club employees when a patron of the club died after an altercation outside of the club. The exclusion precluded coverage for bodily injury "arising out of an assault or battery, provoked or unprovoked, or out of any act or omission in connection with prevention or suppression of an assault or battery, committed by an insured or any employee or agent of the insured." Id. at 435. Interpreting "arising out of" broadly, the Court held that such claims were excluded. Id. at 436-437.