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Independent Record
Judge declines to hear insurance companies’ complaints about defending Helena diocese in sex abuse scandal
By EVE BYRON Independent Record
A federal judge in Helena has refused to hear a case brought by three insurance companies against the Helena Diocese, saying the matter already is being handled in Lewis and Clark District Court.
Three Travelers Insurance Companies – Travelers Casualty and Surety Company, United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company, and St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company — filed the federal court lawsuit last year, arguing that they weren’t obligated to defend the Bishop in pending state litigation because they weren’t given timely notice of alleged sex abuse by priests and nuns.
The insurance companies also wanted to add a claim based on the recent discovery of a 1994 settlement agreement that allegedly released St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company from any obligation to indemnify the Diocese for future sexual abuse claims and allegedly promised that the Diocese would pay the costs of any future claims.
But Senior U.S. District Court Judge Charles Lovell wrote in a ruling released late Friday that the latter claim would first require determinations of state law, which can be raised in the state proceedings, and that venue also is the proper place for the entire lawsuit — at this point.
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