In recent legal developments, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled in a non-precedential opinion on September 22, 2023, that a school bus transportation company was not required to be defended by its insurer following an alleged student assault on a bus. The court stated the harm did not result from the use of the school bus, hence, was not covered under the auto policy.
The question around the insurers responsibility arose in the context of an auto policy – a policy typically designed to involve potential physical harm resulting from the operation of a vehicle. However, the court concluded that the alleged assault and the use of the school bus were not sufficiently interconnected to call for an auto coverage.
This judgment is an example of the legal principles applied when it comes to establishing the connections between infliction of harm and the contexts in which they happen. While any harm inflicted on a school bus is unfortunate and condemnable, the question is whether the duty of the insurer extends under an auto policy to defend a transportation company in such instances. The Third Circuit ruling provides some clarity on this aspect.
For more in-depth details of the legal proceedings and the opinion, the full report is available on JD Supra, authored by Houston Harbaugh, P.C.