Insurer Won’t Have To Defend George Huguely In Multimillion-Dollar Lawsuit

A Maryland judge has decided that one insurance company will no longer have to defend George Huguely V in his upcoming multimillion-dollar wrongful-death lawsuit.

For years, parties in the suit have waited for a judge to resolve two other lawsuits against Huguely, each filed by a different insurance company with which Huguely's mother had a policy. Chartis Property Casualty Co., a holding company of insurance giant AIG, and State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. both have contended that the policies covering Huguely became null when Huguely was convicted in 2012 of the second-degree murder of University of Virginia lacrosse player Yeardley Love.

A lacrosse player himself, Huguely and Love were in an on-again, off-again relationship until her death in 2010. Just ahead of graduation, authorities found Love unresponsive in her apartment bedroom after an encounter with an intensely inebriated Huguely, who lived next door.

Huguely has resolutely fought his conviction, even after the U.S. Supreme Court denied a request to review his case in 2015. In January 2016, Huguely filed a writ of habeas corpus in Charlottesville Circuit Court, arguing that he received ineffective representation in his original trial.

Outside of the possible continuation of his criminal litigation, Huguely also faces a $29.45 million wrongful-death lawsuit, filed in April 2012 by Love's mother, Sharon Love. The insurance companies filed suit the following year.

In its complaint, Chartis states that Huguely's policy requires the company to conduct its own investigation into allegations against him to determine its liability in the matter. That investigation was halted when Huguely refused to sit for an examination under oath, invoking his Fifth Amendment privilege not to incriminate himself. The company argues that Huguely's noncompliance, coupled with his criminal conviction, is grounds for contract annulment, a position similarly taken by State Farm.

Chartis and State Farm both have asked a federal judge to a make quick summary judgment in the case and agree that they are not liable for damages Huguely may have to pay should he lose his wrongful-death suit.

Huguely and Love both have opposed the motions for summary judgments, asserting that the criminal conviction is not admissible as grounds for excluding coverage because it does not take into account Huguely's intent; in conjunction with that defense, they state that Huguely had consumed roughly 45 alcoholic drinks in the 30 hours leading up to Love's death and that his intoxication "prevented him from having any awareness of his conduct and precluded him from forming an intent to harm" Yeardley Love.

With that in mind, Judge Deborah K. Chasanow filed two opinions in federal court on Monday, one of which granted Chartis' motion for a summary judgment and ruled that the company was not liable for Huguely's defense. Contrary to arguments made by Huguely and Sharon Love, Chasanow wrote that while the policy only excludes intentional acts, the language of the policy specifically includes any criminal act.

However, Chasanow did not reach that same conclusion when interpreting the language of State Farm's policy, writing that the policy only explicitly claims intentional acts in their exclusions, which does not extend to all criminal acts, especially if there are disputes over intentions.

As such, State Farm's lawsuit remains active.

Huguely

THE DAILY PROGRESS