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Springdale Donuts Inc. v. Aetna Casualty and Surety Co.3/2/1999
The sole issue in this appeal is whether contracts of insurance that the plaintiff, Springdale Donuts, Inc., purchased from the defendants, Aetna Casualty and Surety Company of Illinois , Farmington Casualty Company and Aetna Casualty and Surety Company, required the defendants to defend and to indemnify the plaintiff with respect to claims brought against it by two of its employees, Helen Ritch and her daughter, Tina Ritch (claimants). We conclude that they did not.
The following facts and procedural history are undisputed. The plaintiff is the operator of a Dunkin' Donuts shop (shop) located on Hope Street in Stamford. During parts of 1992 and 1993, the plaintiff employed the claimants as cashier-clerks at the shop. In 1995, the claimants brought separate actions in federal court against the plaintiff, claiming that they had been the victims of sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace. Specifically, the claimants alleged that in the course of their employment at the shop, a fellow employee, Sherif Mohamed, had sexually assaulted them and had made frequent lewd and lascivious remarks, requests and gestures to them. Maintaining that they had suffered mental anxiety and distress, and humiliation as a result of Mohamed's conduct, the claimants sought to recover damages from the plaintiff for negligent failure to remedy sexually harassing conduct in the workplace, for sexual discrimination in violation of General Statutes § 46a-60 (a) (8), and for sexual harassment in violation of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1991, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq.
Thereafter, the plaintiff sought coverage from the defendants for the claims that had been brought against it by the claimants. The plaintiff relied on the following contracts, or policies, of insurance: (1) a workers' compensation and employer's liability policy (workers' compensation policy) issued by Farmington Casualty Company; (2) a commercial general liability policy issued by Aetna Casualty and Surety Company of Illinois ; and (3) a commercial excess liability (umbrella) policy issued by Aetna Casualty and Surety Company. The defendants denied coverage under the policies, and refused to defend or indemnify the plaintiff with respect to the claimants' actions. The plaintiff subsequently reached settlement agreements with the claimants. Thereafter, the defendants refused to reimburse the plaintiff for expenses related to those settlements.
In March, 1996, the plaintiff instituted the present action against the defendants, seeking damages under the theories of waiver, breach of contract and violation of the covenant of good faith. The trial court determined that the policies did not provide coverage for the underlying claims and concluded, therefore, that the defendants had no duty to defend or indemnify the plaintiff with respect to the underlying claims. The plaintiff appealed from the judgment of the trial court to the Appellate Court, and we transferred the appeal to this court pursuant to Practice Book § 65-1 and General Statutes § 51-199 (c). We affirm the judgment of the trial court.
On appeal, the plaintiff claims that the trial court improperly concluded that the defendants had no duty to defend it in the underlying actions brought by the claimants. Specifically, the plaintiff argues that: (1) the workers' compensation policy provides coverage for the underlying actions, although the underlying complaints do not state claims for workers' compensation benefits; (2) the allegations contained in the underlying complaints fall within the slander and invasion of privacy provisions of the commercial general liability policy; and (3) the personal injury and bodily injury provisions of the umbrella po
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