Opinion ID: 734239
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Cornhill Policies

Text: 17 Unlike Americas, Cornhill's comprehensive general liability policy included an employment exclusion that applied to both bodily and personal injury. However, Cornhill's policy also contained a personal injury endorsement that extended coverage to include liability for personal injury arising from Valsamis' shiprepairing operations. 18 The employment-related claim exclusion in Cornhill's policy precluded coverage for: 19 Any liability of whatsoever nature of the Assured, whether the Assured may be liable as an employer or in any other capacity whatsoever, to any of its Employees, including without limiting the generality of the foregoing any liability under any workers' compensation law, unemployment compensation law, disability benefit law, United States Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, Jones Act, Death on the High Seas Act, General Maritime Law, Federal Employer's Liability Act, or any similar laws or liabilities, and/or whether by reason of the relationship of master and servant or employer and employee or not ... [and][a]ny liability of any Employee of the Assured with respect to bodily and/or personal injury to or illness or death of another Employee of the Assured sustained in the course of such employment. 20 The wording of this employment exclusion is very broad. Gisentaner's state court action complained of negligent acts by Valsamis, Inc. as her employer. Negligent hiring and supervision necessarily involve the employment relationship and therefore this exclusion precludes coverage. The injuries inflicted by Valsamis and Papapetrou all occurred while Gisentaner was employed by Valsamis and were sustained in the course of her employment and are therefore also excluded. Our interpretation of this employment exclusion is supported by Texas law. In Aberdeen Ins. Co. v. Bovee, 777 S.W.2d 442 (Tex.App.-El Paso 1989), the court considered a similar employment exclusion and found that it was broad enough to encompass sexual harassment and negligent hiring and supervision claims. Bovee, 777 S.W.2d at 444. 21 Gisentaner argues that the language in Cornhill's policy is similar to that in Western Heritage Insurance Company v. Magic Years Learning Centers and Child Care, Inc., 45 F.3d 85, 88-89 (5th Cir.1995), and that this employment-related claim exclusion only excludes claims against Valsamis, Inc. because it is the only employer. However, the policy language in Magic Years did not contain the language found in Cornhill's policy excluding coverage for liability of one employee to another. Therefore, the holding in Magic Years that the employment exclusion only applied to claims against the employer and not to claims against the president and secretary of the organization does not control our decision here. 22 Gisentaner also argues that because her secretarial duties included accounting and scheduling for shiprepairing operations, she should benefit from the shiprepairing endorsement. The endorsement covers: 23 legal liability of the Assured for death or personal injury occurring in the course of and arising from the shiprepairing operations of the Assured but in no event ... for any claim arising directly or indirectly under ... Common Law Liability in respect of loss of life, bodily injury to, or illness of any workman or other person employed in any capacity whatsoever by the Assured, his agents or sub-contractors when such loss of life, bodily injury to, or illness arises out of or in the course of the employment of such workman or other person. 24 Gisentaner's argument, however, ignores the requirement that the personal injury must arise from the shiprepairing operations. Gisentaner's injuries arose from sexual harassment, not the administrative support work she did for the shiprepairing operations.