Two US cases in July 2025 each held that claims for gunshot wounds sustained at public events were not covered by commercial general liability policies which included exclusions for bodily injuries arising out of assault or battery by negligent, reckless or wanton conduct by patrons.
In the one case a number of people suffered gunshot injuries at a rally when half-a-dozen gunmen fired an estimated 40 shots at each other and into the crowd, injuring or killing 22 people. In the other matter several unknown, inebriated patrons at a rave fired gunshots into the air, creating chaos and confusion in a darkened warehouse where a bullet struck and killed an individual.
The exclusions were similar although one defined the words “assault” and “battery”. The policies did not cover bodily injury that “in any way, in whole or in part, arises out of an actual, threatened or alleged assault or battery whether caused by or at the instigation or direction of any insured, their employees, patrons or any other person” and included a failure to provide an environment safe from assault or battery which was one of the allegations of the claimants. Once again, the courts held that the words “arising out of” are not words of narrow and specific limitation but are broad, general and comprehensive terms. There was no set of facts that could develop in evidence that would transform the shootings into something other than an action arising out of assault or battery under the policy. Even if the evidence showed negligence rather than reckless or wanton conduct that was explicitly excluded. The alleged incidents fell squarely under the assault and battery exclusion.
In South Africa there is no separate concept of battery in addition to assault. There is no distinction between assault and battery. The two are fused together and the offence is called “assault”.
[Cincinnati Specialty Underwriters Insurance Company v The Greater Kansas City Sports Commission and Others, United States Court for the Western District of Missouri case no 4:25-cv-00568-SRB (22 July 2025)]