Negligent Supervision

Typically, homeowner’s insurance policies will include a provision that denies coverage for bodily injury intentionally caused by an individual. Since Florida courts have reasoned that a person who sexually molests a child can not intend for anything other than harm and long-term emotional anguish to be borne by their victim(s), acts of sexual molestation are considered intentional acts as that term is used in insurance policies. Accordingly, Florida courts have consistently denied insurance coverage for intentional sexual acts on children.

Our state’s courts have also denied coverage under intentional act exclusions for incidents of sexual harassment because the intent to harm the victim is inferred just as in occasions of sexual abuse. It is not uncommon for other types of policies to include intentional act exclusions. For example, a Florida District Court denied coverage under the terms of a dentist’s professional liability policy where said dentist sexually assaulted a patient who was being treated while under the influence of a narcotic pain killer.
   
Furthermore, public policy dictates against insuring losses that flow from a wrongdoer’s intentional or criminal act. To hold otherwise would effectively shift the financial burden from the wrongdoer to every insured party by forcing insurance companies to raise premiums as a result of having to render payouts for intentional injury-related claims. However, fortunately for the victims of these heinous acts, all is not necessarily lost when it comes to establishing coverage to provide compensation. The attorneys at Rue & Ziffra are talented and tenured personal injury attorneys that will investigate the facts behind your case to determine whether there was any wrongdoing committed by a third party that was not directly involved in the act. Specifically, our lawyers might be able to bring a negligent supervision or negligent hiring action against the third party whose carelessness allowed the sexual perpetrator the opportunity to engage in the unlawful act.
  
 Indeed, an employer has a duty to conduct a background investigation on persons considered for a job in which employees supervise, monitor, or are otherwise put in charge of minors. If this duty to investigate is either neglected or conducted in a less than diligent and reasonable manner, the employer may be on the hook for negligent hiring when and if an employee commits a wrongful intentional act such as sexual abuse. Additionally, a third party’s failure to exercise due care in supervising minors, children and even houseguests can subject them to liability for negligent supervision. For example, when an individual is put in charge of the care and custody of a minor, that individual has the duty to exercise reasonable supervision in an effort to protect that minor from harm. Liability becomes even more apparent when the person charged with the child’s care and custody had either constructive or express knowledge of the wrongdoer’s propensity to engage in sexual abuse or other intentional misconduct.
   
So, we know that coverage can be established if there has been any sort of negligent hiring or monitoring that made the wrongful intentional act possible. The question remains: What is the extent of coverage available provided that it can be established? For purposes of insurance coverage in cases such as these, each act of sexual molestation is a separate offense covered by the insured’s policy limits. For example, in a claim for negligent supervision in a sexual molestation case where a policy with a $100,000.00 per offense ceiling applies, negligence in the supervision of a child accompanied by five acts of sexual misconduct may entitle the victim to a total of $500,000.00 in coverage.
   
The legal team at Rue & Ziffra, P.A., is here to assist you through troubling times. If you or a family member has been the victim of someone else’s negligence, carelessness or disregard for human life, contact our personal injury lawyers at 1-888-246-8613.