Posted on 11/25/2008 3:19:23 PM PST by abb
Duke University is suing its insurance company for refusing to pay any of the settlement costs for the Duke lacrosse case.
In federal court papers filed Monday, Duke is seeking financial relief from National Union Fire Insurance Co. of Pittsburgh, an affiliate of insurance giant AIG.
The case stems from gang-rape allegations that an escort service dancer lodged against three players after a lacrosse team party in June 2006.
Before all the facts were gathered and any criminal charges were filed, Duke suspended the lacrosse team's season.
The criminal case against the three players crumbled quickly over the next year.
In April 2007, State Attorney General Roy Cooper dismissed all charges against the three and declared that there was no evidence of an assault at the party.
In June 2007, Duke entered a settlement agreement with the three players. Neither side has disclosed the terms of the settlement.
"Duke believes that our insurance companies should meet their obligations, and we will pursue all options available to us," Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations at Duke, said in a statement.
"While Duke sought to address this without resorting to a lawsuit, we were not able to reach a satisfactory outcome and thus turn to the courts."
anne.blythe@newsobserver.com or (919) 932-8741
I love that graphic. That’s just what I was thinking.
They ought to get their Gand of 88 faculty members or thereabouts and let them pay the settlement.
I hope these universities/colleges/schools go under.
If I’m reading the filing correctly, Duke is alleging the insurer won’t even pay for attorney’s fees. And the insurer is probably calling Duke’s bluff because they know Duke wants none of this stuff exposed to discovery.
Interesting..... I certainly don’t know how such policies work — but is there no level of misconduct, deceit, or reckless behavior by senior Duke officials that would void a policy or remove the “duty to pay”?? Or is the most idiotic and slanderous behavior by Duke officials part of what is being insured?
I had assumed that there would be some kinds of behaviors by university officials that could be compared to someone with an auto insurance policy pushing their car off a cliff?? I don’t think GEICO has to pay off someone’s policy if they pushed their car off a cliff? But I don’t know much about how different types of insurance work.....
Fortunately, the biggest insurance issue I’ve dealt with in my life was a minor fender-bender (someone else rear-ended me) in which the other insurance company paid my claim quickly and easily..... so I have not dealt with these issues.
The insurer can deny a claim for non-cooperation by the insured. My guess this is what happened. Duke will never admit fault of any type.
Well put. If you had to pick a side to trust here, you'd pretty much be SOL.
Congratulations to the team. They can now seize the University. LOL! (maybe)
Actually, had the case not quickly fallen apart, then Duke might have a better case that its insurance company should pay. The insurance company on the other hand probably does not think it should pay since Duke affirmatively aided this rather than it being somethig that happened that they could not anticipate.
The insurer should offer the same terms as the students: to dismiss all those faculty, and the school president, who slandered the students.
They would shut up and pay the bill instead of putting their sorry asses on the line for their mistakes.
Somebody call the WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAmbulance for Duke University.
Very interesting.
I have to wonder whether insurance investigators have been talking to the plaintiffs' attorneys in this, and the 2 active civil cases.
If not, then I'll bet they've been reading the court filings very closely.
BS! Cooper declared them INNOCENT!In April 2007, State Attorney General Roy Cooper dismissed all charges against the three and declared that there was no evidence of an assault at the party.
The quote sounds correct, but on further review you are right - he went beyond saying there as "no evidence" to state that they were innocent of the charges. And that is a stronger statement than "no evidence" - it asserts that there is evidence to the contrary.
In April 2007, State Attorney General Roy Cooper dismissed all charges against the three and declared that there was no evidence of an assault at the party.
BTW, is Mr. Cooper a Republican, and was he affected in any way by the Republican loss in NC Nov. 4?
Oh yes, I remember it well.
It was breathtaking; not only were they NOT GUILTY they were pronounced INNOCENT.
This statement dilutes that EXTREMELY IMPORTANT FACT.
Meanwhile in Feb. 2007 a black youth was accused of raping a white Duke student at an off-campus frat party.
While on bail, he is now accused of having raped a second woman.
Probably you never heard of that case. And none of those who attacked the lacrosse players have had a word to say about this.
Which means, that they never really cared about rape or rape victims at all. And they only used the lacrosse case as a cause to advance their own agendas (and who cared what happened to the accused in that case in the process.)
(And ditto for the media, which covered the lacrosse case, but won’t cover this.)
On the other hand, if the insurer offers to defend, and believes it has a valid defense, and you take a dive on the lawsuit, they could well be off the hook.
(And ditto for the media, which covered the lacrosse case, but won’t cover this.)
Journalism is the promotion of the sensational, the new, the unusual. The Duke Lacrosse case was all of the above. Therefore the story was "too good to check." Therefore it was not only was not checked, you had to have blinders on to not have powerful if not overwhelming suspicion of the motives of Nifong. That is all there is to the case - it played into the motive of journalism to attract attention.That motive, BTW, is proof that journalism is not objective. Not that it is necessary to prove that to justify overturning McCain-Feingold and delegitimate the Fairness Doctrine; under the Constitution the government lacks the authority to declare Associated Press journalism to be objective.
man bites dog vs. dog bites man
Lots of deaths
Huh?
I doubt the Duke University can survive the discovery process that this lawsuit will involve.
If I were the lawyers for National Union Fire Insurance I would demand the backup tapes for the email accounts of the President and his “Gang of 88” as part of my opening salvo.
If there were any sentient beings in leadership positions at Duke, they would drop this lawsuit immediately.
This is going to get a whole lot worse for Duke with only a very limited possibility that it will get better at any time in the distant future.
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