Kentucky Injury Law Blog

In Lexington, the Urban County Government is suing an insurance company that they claim has not paid five plaintiffs the sex abuse settlements that they are owed. The insurance bad faith lawsuit, filed against the Insurance Corp of Ireland—now called Icarom—accuses the company of failing to respond to the claims. The insurer has not revealed whether it will deny the claims or pay the plaintiffs their settlements.

From March 1, 1982 through July 1, 1985, Urban County had an insurance policy with the Ireland-based insurer. The general liability policy covered public officials from liability. Lexington officials say they sent the insurance company deposition and records pertaining to the child molestation civil lawsuit in 2005.

The settlements stem from a sex abuse lawsuit involving former clients of the Micro-City Government program for disadvantaged youth. Some 200 people have filed sex abuse lawsuits accusing program director Ron Berry of sexually and physically abusing them. Berry ran the program from 1969 to 1997. In 2000, Berry was convicted of 12 counts of sodomy and served a three-year prison term for his crimes.

The city of Lexington settled one of the civil lawsuits, filed by four plaintiffs, for $450,000. A second lawsuit was settled with 17 plaintiffs for $2.4 million. Another sex abuse lawsuit is still pending.

Urban County wants to be reimbursed for litigation and settlement expenses for five of the plaintiffs who claim they were sexually abused during the period of time that the county was insured by the Irish-based insurer. The county is also seeking unspecified damages from the insurance company.

This is not the first lawsuit filed against an insurance company over the Ron Berry lawsuits. In 2001, Fayette County sued three insurance companies. The lawsuits were eventually settled even though the insurance companies had argued that their policies did not cover sex abuse by city officials.

City sues insurer over Berry abuse case, Kentucky.com, January 22, 2009

Lexington sues insurer over unpaid settlements, Fort Mill Times, January 22, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government

Lexington Fayette Urban County Government v. Icarom, PLC, Justia