Facts

In a separate action, Rosebank Road Medical Services Ltd. doing business as Rosebank Medical Centre and Geeta Murali Ganesh filed a complaint for defamation in relation to reviews posted on a website called RateMDs.com. At the time, the complaint only identified "Does 1-20" as defendants. After conducting discovery, the defamation plaintiffs filed a first amended complaint and named Ramji Govindarajan as defendant. After a trial on the merits, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Govindarajan. Govindarajan, filed an insurance claim against defendant GEICO for the defamation claim that was asserted against Govindarajan.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS: Plaintiff Govindarajan contended that GEICO Policy No. P8127665 for the policy period from May 28, 2016 to May 28, 2017 covered the defamation claim against Govindarajan. The policy named Govindarajan as insured and the terms stated that GEICO agreed to "pay damages on behalf of an insured." The term "damages" was defined as "personal injury" which included "defamation."

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS: Defendant contended that it was entitled to summary judgment because at the time of the alleged defamation was first published on the RateMDs.com website, the GEICO policy was not yet enforced. Therefore, the defamation insurance claim was outside of the scope of the policy.

Result

The court granted defendant's motion for summary judgment ruling that plaintiff Govindarajan did not satisfy the conditions to obtain insurance coverage from defendant for the defense of the defamation lawsuit.

Other Information

Plaintiff appealed the decision and the parties then settled the matter.