A subsidiary of Travelers Insurance has filed a counterclaim in an ugly federal lawsuit over multiple stage-diving accidents.
The insurance company refused to cover a claim after two people sued the label for injuries they incurred while attending a concert booked by the label. The two were injured in separate incidents when other members of the audience dove off the stage and landed on them.
In its counterclaim, St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Co. is seeking a summary judgment from a New Jersey federal judge. It insists that it does not have to cover Good Fight Entertainment LLC, which is the label being sued by the concertgoers, because of a policy exclusion that expressly precludes injuries at concerts.
The Travelers insurance company went on to call Good Fight’s lawsuit against it “frivolous,” and says that the claims Good Fight made were not in good faith.
In July of this year, Good Fight sued the insurance company and sought its own summary judgment: that the insurer must provide coverage for the accidents. The first of these accidents came at a concert in North Carolina where Terror performed, while the second happened at a Canadian venue where The Story So Far performed.
Good Fight insists that, because it was not present at the events and only booked the groups that performed at them, the insurer’s policy exclusion does not apply to them.
Good Fight further asserts that the insurance company broke New Jersey law in how it handled an appeal after coverage was denied. They say that the appeal was reviewed by an individual company employee instead of by an independent 3-person panel, and that it was not processed within 10 business days as required by law.
In addition to providing coverage for the two stage-diving accidents, Good Fight wants no less than $1 million in punitive damages from the insurer for acting in bad faith. They also want the insurer to pay all its attorney fees.