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Insurer Sues Marriott in Erin Andrews Case
LOS ANGELES (CN) - Travelers insurance disputes the scope of the coverage it owes Marriott in defending against ESPN sportscaster Erin Andrews, who claims the hotel chain negligently allowed a stalker to shoot nude video of her in a Nashville hotel room more than 3 years ago.
In March 2010, Michael Barrett was sentenced to 2½ years in prison for stalking with intent to harass after he admitted following Andrews to at least three hotel rooms in three states.
At the hotel room in the West End Marriott Hotel in Nashville, Barrett booked into an adjacent hotel room, altered a peephole in Andrews' hotel room door and filmed her disrobing with his cell phone. He posted the film on the Internet, where it went viral.
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According to the complaint, Marriott cannot claim coverage for damages for personal injury because Andrews "did not learn of the wrongful acts until approximately five months after the end of the policy period, so she did not suffer any 'bodily injury' during the term of" the policy. It also claims that the hotel chain has no coverage for damages resulting from personal injury.
http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/01/12/42977.htm
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)Obviously, if the insurance policy does not provide coverage for damages attributable to personal injuries, there would be no need to defend on the grounds that the event which occurred during the policy period was not discovered until after the lapse of the policy.
California is one state with case law which allows for the recovery of damages when an insurer refuses to defend and/or pay damages in bad faith.
Missy Vixen
(16,207 posts)I want someone to explain the following to me. As a female who must stay in a hotel room while on business trips, I have seen NO change in hotel security since the Andrews case, despite the hotels in question reporting that their housekeeping staff have found everything from Band-Aids to duct tape employed to cover peepholes in hotel room doors.
1. Why could Barrett walk up to the front desk of at least two hotels, ask for Erin Andrews by name, claim he was "a friend", and not a soul mentioned it to her or to ESPN's staff? She's a public personality. Even more, she probably stayed in the same hotels repeatedly. It's hard to believe he was undetected.
2. How was he able to install a peephole camera attached to a cell phone without detection by hotel staff? He would have to have access to her room for some period of time to do so, would he not? Who let him in?
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)The question that comes to mind from my point of view is, "do any of the people who approved this course of action at Travelers, have daughters?" Just what would be their reaction if the person who (in their interpretation) was "not injured" was their daughter who had been recorded in the nude in a hotel room without her consent?
Missy Vixen
(16,207 posts)I wish I could rec a single post.
>Just what would be their reaction if the person who (in their interpretation) was "not injured" was their daughter who had been recorded in the nude in a hotel room without her consent?<
If you read the interview with Erin Andrews that ran in Marie Claire magazine, she mentions the fact it's been two years, and she is still dealing with the knuckledraggers who think it's cute and/or funny to bring up what happened to her. She initially thought her career was over. She will live with the fallout of a videotape she didn't consent to or authorize for the rest of her life.
http://www.marieclaire.com/celebrity-lifestyle/celebrities/erin-andrews-interview
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)I will do so now, Thank You for the link and appreciate your kind words.
As the Father of a Daughter... I hope Travelers & The Hotel chain have some "wonderful" days in court ahead, they deserve that & much, much more.