Martinsville Corral, Inc. v. Society Insurance

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendant-insurance company’s motion for summary judgment in plaintiff-insured’s action alleging that defendant breached terms of its insurance policy by failing to provide defense or indemnity in underlying action alleging that plaintiff used DirecTV’s satellite television programming for its businesses without paying for higher commercial subscription rate. While defendant’s policy provided coverage for claims against plaintiff’s companies for “slander, invasion of privacy, defamation or humiliation,” Dist. Ct. could properly find that instant policy did not cover underlying lawsuit, since there was no reasonable interpretation of underlying lawsuit that could possibly place underlying lawsuit within category of libel, slander or defamation. Moreover, underlying lawsuit contained no allegations that plaintiff made any kind of statement, let alone make any false or defamatory statement about DirecTV.