Court Holds Torture Committed In Iraq Is Outside Policy’s “Coverage Territory”

In a case involving the application of liability insurance to torture cases in Iraq, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that there was no coverage because the incidents occurred outside the policy’s coverage territory. In CACI International, Inc. v. St. Paul Fire and Marine Ins. Co., the insured was sued by detainees of Abu Gharib, and sought coverage under its general liability policy. CACI argued that the hiring and training of the insured’s employees implicated acts that occurred in the United States, within the policy’s coverage territory. This argument was rejected by the court, which noted that traditional policy interpretation used the location of the injury determined the location of the “event” for coverage purposes.

http://pacer.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinion.pdf/081885.P.pdf