A Long Island school district is accusing two insurers of ducking their responsibilities to defend and indemnify it against lawsuits by former students claiming they were sexually abused by an elementary school teacher decades ago.
Bay Shore Union Free School District has sued Hartford Å˽ðÁ«´«Ã½Ó³» Group and CNA Å˽ðÁ«´«Ã½Ó³», alleging they are not honoring commercial general liability policies they issued to the district in the 1970s and 1980s.
The New York school district has been named in 45 lawsuits from people who claim they were abused by teacher Thomas Bernagozzi when they were in the third grade.
From about 1970 and 2000, Bernagozzi worked at the district’s Gardiner Manor Elementary School and Mary G. Clarkson Elementary School. The lawsuits have been filed against both the school district and Bernagozzi alleging sexual abuse and claiming that the district knew of complaints about the teacher but failed to do enough to prevent the abuse.
The civil lawsuits have been filed under New York’s Child Victims Act (CVA), which allows survivors of childhood sexual abuse to sue for abuse that occurred many years ago.
Bernagozzi was arrested and criminally charged with abusing two students in December 2023. He has pleaded not guilty.
About half of the 45 lawsuits against the schools have been settled. The district approved a $35 million bond to settle 12 claims not covered by insurance. In addition, the New York State Å˽ðÁ«´«Ã½Ó³» Reciprocal (NYSIR) has covered a number of others, according to district documents.
In one suit brought by a child victim that has already gone to trial, a jury found the district liable for negligence in supervision, and in acting with reckless disregard for keeping the former elementary school teacher employed despite multiple allegations of him having sexually abused other students. The jury awarded the victim $25 million. However, last month the trial judge overturned that amount and ordered that it be reduced to $4 million or a new trial will be held on damages.
Of the remaining cases, there are 18 for which the district said it has been trying since 2021 to get Hartford and CNA to acknowledge coverage under primary and excess commercial liability policies they issued to the district between 1973 and 1982.
On May 2, the Bay Shore board of education authorized legal action against the insurance companies to enforce what the district believes are the insurers’ contractual obligations to address claims related to the CVA. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court for Eastern New York.
The 18 lawsuits allege that the school district negligently provided Bernagozzi with “unfettered and unsupervised access to minor boys,” resulting in “repeated incidents of sexual abuse that have caused physical, psychological, and emotional injuries.”
The district maintains that Hartford and CNA have repeatedly engaged in “obstructive and deceitful tactics, in contravention of the CVA, and to the school district’s great detriment.”
The district argues that the underlying actions represent the type of substantial potential liability for which it purchased insurance from Hartford and CNA decades ago. Yet the insurers have failed, for four years, to honor their contractual and legal obligations, the suit claims, by engaging in a “wait-and-see” strategy in response to the passage of the CVA wherein they “routinely deny or delay their coverage obligations” in an effort to “avoid significant financial exposure or impact.”
Bay Shore maintains that as part of this strategy the insurers have failed to timely disclaim coverage; furnish all policies or other evidence relied upon for purposes of disclaiming coverage; and/or apprise the school district, with sufficient specificity, of the grounds for their disclaimers.
The school district is asking the court for a declaratory judgment in favor of insurance coverage, as well as redress for the insurer’s alleged breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and violations of New York general business law and state insurance law.
Was this article valuable?
Here are more articles you may enjoy.
Q1 Shows ‘Clear’ Signs of Commercial P/C Softening, Says CIAB 
Despite Backlash From Trump, DEI Hasn’t Disappeared at US Companies 
Markel Å˽ðÁ«´«Ã½Ó³» CEO Wilson Lays Out Strategy for ‘Bread-and-Butter’ E&S Business 
Steelmaker Nucor Shuts Down Some Output After Cyberattack 
