Travelers unit must defend Georgia hotel against sex trafficking suit

A Travelers Cos. Inc. unit must defend a hotel owner against a minor’s allegations of sex trafficking after a federal judge in Atlanta dismissed the insurer’s lawsuit Monday.

The judge said in Northfield Insurance Co. v. Northbrook Industries Inc. et al. that the allegations in the minor’s lawsuit against the hotel fell within commercial liability policy’s definitions of bodily injury and personal and advertising injury.

The minor’s lawsuit, brought under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, said she was trafficked for sex at a United Inn owned by Northbrook. She contended Northbrook knew about and benefited from the trafficking activity, court records show.

Northfield sued Decatur, Georgia-based Northbrook and the minor in August 2023, seeking an order that it was not obligated to cover the suit because it did not allege a covered injury and because two exclusions barred coverage.

The minor’s sex trafficking allegations involved bodily injuries because she alleged physical harm, and personal and advertising injuries because she said she was falsely imprisoned, the judge said.

The judge also said the abuse and molestation and assault or battery exclusions in the policy did not apply to relieve the Travelers’ unit of its defense obligations.

The abuse and molestation endorsement did not apply because the minor’s alleged injuries did not arise solely from abuse or molestation. Similarly, the minor did not allege that physical force was used or threatened against her, the judge said.

Representatives for the parties did not respond to requests for comment.