Insurer Asks Panel To Find No Coverage Owed For Sexual Assault Suits Against Pastor

Mealey's (July 22, 2019, 3:32 PM EDT) -- NEW ORLEANS — An insurer recently asked the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reverse a lower federal court’s finding that it has a duty to defend its pastor insured against three underlying lawsuits alleging that he sexually assaulted three parishioners, arguing that the lower court’s construction of its policies’ sexual or physical abuse or molestation coverage “neither mentions nor distinguishes case law interpreting those same policy provisions in a manner that precludes a duty to defend” (Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Company v. Terry R. Knighten, No. 18-50832, 5th Cir.)....