State Automobile Mutual Insurance Co. is maintaining that it shouldn’t have to defend a construction company that’s being sued for negligence after a man was hit by a truck while exiting one of the construction firm’s porta-potties. The insurance carrier claims the policy doesn’t cover the incident.
Construction company Echo Maintenance held a policy issued by State Auto at the time of the accident, but the driver wasn’t a policyholder. Because of that – and because the policy didn’t specifically cover porta-potties – State Auto told a Texas federal court it shouldn’t have to defend the lawsuit.
The lawsuit was filed by Jerry Lon Walker in July. According to Walker, he was hit by a truck after leaving an Echo Maintenance porta-potty at his place of employment, Lucite International.
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The truck that hit Walker was owned by Lucite, and the driver, Joseph Marcus Sistrunk, is a Lucite employee. Walker is also suing Lucite and Sistrunk. He’s suing Echo Maintenance because he claims the company was negligent in the placement of the porta-potty.
State Auto maintains that since the truck and the driver were Lucite employees, its policy shouldn’t cover the accident.
“The vehicle was not owned, borrowed or hired by Echo, and the vehicle was not otherwise being utilized in the furtherance of any business of Echo,” State Auto told the court.
