Help

BI’s Article search uses Boolean search capabilities. If you are not familiar with these principles, here are some quick tips.

To search specifically for more than one word, put the search term in quotation marks. For example, “workers compensation”. This will limit your search to that combination of words.

To search for a combination of terms, use quotations and the & symbol. For example, “hurricane” & “loss”.

Login Register Subscribe

Insurer sues to keep from paying Penn State abuser's legal bills

Reprints
Insurer sues to keep from paying Penn State abuser's legal bills

WASHINGTON (Reuters)—Insurer State Farm said it should be exempt from paying for legal bills arising from former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky's child sexual abuse case.

State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. sold Sandusky a homeowner policy and filed a federal lawsuit last week arguing that the policy does not cover injuries caused by intentional, willful or malicious acts.

The State Farm policy provided limited personal liability coverage.

Mr. Sandusky, 68, was convicted last month on 45 counts of sex abuse involving 10 boys, sometimes at his home in State College, Pa.

State Farm began insuring the home in 1985 for Sandusky and his wife, Dottie, according to the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for Middle District of Pennsylvania.

The company asked that the court declare that the policy did not cover legal costs for his criminal defense or civil lawsuits arising from the case.

Federal Insurance Co., which covers the Second Mile, the charity Sandusky founded for at-risk youth in 1977, is making payments for his defense, Sandusky's attorney Brian Osias said last week.

The National Collegiate Athletics Assn., the governing body of U.S. college sports, fined Pennsylvania State University $60 million on Monday in an unprecedented rebuke for the school's failure to stop Sandusky's sexual abuse.

In a sign of potential financial fallout from the NCAA move, Moody's Investors Service said it might cut Penn State's Aa1 revenue bond rating.

Read Next

  • Insurance unlikely to cover Penn State fines, penalties

    STATE COLLEGE, Pa.—Pennsylvania State University's insurance coverage likely will not respond to the $73 million in unprecedented fines and penalties imposed by the NCAA and the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors for its failure in handling allegations of child sexual abuse by former Assistant Football Coach Gerald A. Sandusky.